DSJ Quick Take: Quinnen Williams’ Agent Spends Cowboys Practice With Salary Cap Chief
Nicole Lynn, who represents Quinnen Williams, spent much of Saturday’s practice in Oxnard on the field with Dallas Cowboys senior director of salary cap and player contracts Adam Prasifka, with extension talks ongoing.
- Who was on the field? Nicole Lynn of Klutch Sports Group, Williams’ agent, alongside Adam Prasifka and members of the Cowboys front office, including Stephen Jones.
- Where do talks stand? Stephen Jones said at the July 28 opening press conference that Dallas had discussed the process with Lynn and that Williams sits at the top of the list of players the team wants long-term.
- What is Williams owed now? He is signed through 2027 at $21.75 million this season and $25.5 million next, the back end of a four-year, $96 million deal he signed with the Jets in 2023.
- Why is the price rising? Jeffery Simmons reset the market at $35.276 million per year, and Jalen Carter passed him at $38 million per year with $106 million guaranteed on the day Cowboys camp opened.
OXNARD, Calif. — Nicole Lynn of Klutch Sports Group spent much of Saturday’s Dallas Cowboys practice on the field with Adam Prasifka, the team’s senior director of salary cap and player contracts, according to The Dallas Morning News. Lynn, who represents defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, also spoke with co-owner and executive vice president Stephen Jones and other members of the front office.
Williams is under contract through the 2027 season. He is scheduled to earn $21.75 million in 2026 and $25.5 million in 2027, then hit free agency.
Stephen Jones said at the team’s opening press conference on July 28 that the Cowboys had already been in contact with Williams’ representation about how to structure a new deal, and that other players on the roster could get a look during camp as well.
“We’re very open to that,” Jones said. “We want Quinnen here for the long haul. Obviously, we’ve got a lot of resources tied up in it. He knows what we think about it. We’ve had some discussions with [his] agent about how to go about the process. But certainly he’s one of the best in the business and we know kind of what that market is. [It] obviously evolves and changes with each new deal, which is the case at any position. But certainly he’s at the top of the list in terms of people that we want to keep around here long term. There’s other players on the roster that we may take a look at as well as we move forward, camp seems to always be a nice time to look at something like that.”
The resources Jones referenced are considerable. Dallas acquired Williams from the New York Jets on Nov. 4, 2025, sending a 2026 second-round pick, the better of its two 2027 first-round picks, and defensive tackle Mazi Smith to New York. The 2026 pick became No. 44 overall.
The Defensive Tackle Market Reset Twice Before Camp
Two extensions moved the position since Dallas made that trade. The Tennessee Titans signed Jeffery Simmons to a three-year deal worth $105.828 million, an average of $35.276 million per season.
The Philadelphia Eagles then extended Jalen Carter on July 28, the same day the Cowboys opened camp. That contract runs four years and $152 million, an average of $38 million per season, with $106 million guaranteed. It is the largest deal ever given to a defensive tackle.
Williams’ own extension, signed with the Jets in July 2023, was four years and $96 million with $66 million in guarantees. At the time, it made him the second-highest-paid defensive tackle in the league by average annual value.
Dallas thinned the interior in March. The Cowboys traded Osa Odighizuwa to the San Francisco 49ers for the No. 92 overall pick, clearing roughly $16 million off the 2026 books. Defensive lineman Solomon Thomas went to the Titans in a seventh-round pick swap the same afternoon.
Quinnen Williams Has Watched The Position Get Paid
Williams was the third overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Alabama. He has been named to four Pro Bowls and was a first-team All-Pro in 2022. Through seven seasons, he has 343 tackles and 41.5 sacks.
In 2025, he was one of two defensive tackles to finish in the NFL’s top 10 in both pass rush win rate and run stop win rate, per ESPN. The other was Odighizuwa. Williams recorded 32 pressures in seven games after arriving in Dallas.
Williams said during camp that watching the interior market climb has been striking, and he joked with defensive tackle Kenny Clark about the era when the top players at the position topped out around $17 million a year.
“It’s just phenomenal to see the impact that my position, defensive tackle, is making,” Williams said.
Williams said he is leaving the negotiation to Lynn and that his focus is the season in front of him. He has said his priority is helping quarterback Dak Prescott get Dallas back to the playoffs.
Lynn is president of football operations at Klutch Sports Group and has negotiated several of the recent contracts that moved the interior market.
The Cowboys hold a joint practice against the Los Angeles Rams on Tuesday. Dallas opens the preseason at the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday, Aug. 15, with kickoff at 7 p.m. CT on NFL Network.
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