Dallas City News

The Dallas Cowboys were delivered a big blow in training camp on Sunday, when it was confirmed that third-year DE Sam Williams tore both his ACL and MCL and will miss the entire 2024 season.

This is tragic news for Williams, who was in prime position to have a breakout year, after the team lost defensive ends Dorance Armstrong and Dante Fowler Jr. in free agency to the Washington Commanders. It is also not good for the team, as a defensive line that was considered one of the strongest groups in the league just a few years ago, suddenly feels like it is lacking depth.

Heading into training camp, it was noted in a previous article that rookie Marshawn Kneeland and Williams were in line for a position battle for DE3 on the depth chart behind Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence. Now with Williams’ injury, it is safe to assume that the team will lean heavily on Kneeland to have a big impact in his rookie season.

While the selection of Kneeland will obviously help lighten the blow of this injury, the team will still need to look at available free agents to help with their depth. A name that immediately sticks out is Carl Lawson. Lawson, a 2017 fourth-round pick, has had an impactful six-year career in the NFL. He’s produced 27.0 sacks, 119 total tackles, and 28 tackles for loss. While his best season came his rookie year with the Cincinnati Bengals (8.5 sacks), he recorded seven sacks in the 2022 season with the New York Jets. With that said, he missed a majority of the 2023 season due to injury.

After it was announced that Williams suffered his major injury, Lawson sent out a cryptic tweet.

It is yet to be revealed if there is mutual interest between both sides, or if Lawson is attempting to get the attention of the Cowboys front office with this tweet. Regardless, the Cowboys could use a player like Lawson as depth for their thin defensive line.