FRISCO, Texas – Quinnen Williams said Wednesday he wants to finish his career with the Dallas Cowboys, and that the building felt like his the moment the trade went through last November.
Williams played his first game for Dallas in Week 11 of last season.
“It’s been amazing from when we started off in OTAs until where we are now,” Williams said. “We got some fine-tuning things to clean up, some things to do but I feel comfortable about the progressions that we made, the growth and the development that we have made, and to go into the right direction that we wanted to go into.”
That debut came Nov. 17 at Las Vegas, a 33-16 Cowboys win in which Williams had 1.5 sacks, five quarterback hits and four combined tackles. The 1.5 sacks were the only ones he recorded in seven games with Dallas. He finished the Cowboys stretch with 21 tackles, three tackles for loss and an interception on 275 defensive snaps.
Dallas acquired Williams from the New York Jets on Nov. 4, sending a 2027 first-round pick, a 2026 second-round pick and defensive tackle Mazi Smith to New York. One of the two first-round picks Dallas had collected in the August 2025 trade that sent Micah Parsons to Green Bay went back out the door in the deal.
Quinnen Williams On What The Midseason Trade Asked Of Him
Williams said the progressions since the offseason program opened have gone in the direction Dallas wanted.
“I was already there. I felt like home when they traded for me, when I first got a chance to come into the building and I got a chance to play my first game here,” Williams explained. “I felt like when you trade for somebody, man, especially in the middle of the season, you expect them to help you go in the right direction and to help you. So with that responsibility, man, I felt at home immediately.”
“Somebody put that responsibility in me. So the trust in me and to be able to do that,” Williams continued. “So I was super excited. I was super happy about getting traded here and I wanna be here for the rest of my career.”
The Cowboys won their first three games with Williams before a 44-30 loss at Detroit on Dec. 4 began a run of four losses in five games. Dallas finished 7-9-1 and missed the playoffs for the second straight season.
Quinnen Williams’ Long-Term Future With The Cowboys
Dallas made the contract part official on Aug. 10, when Williams signed a three-year, $105.9 million extension that carries $101 million in guarantees and keeps him under team control through 2030. The deal was added to the two years remaining on his previous contract. His $35.3 million annual average on the new money is second among defensive tackles.
Williams is entering his eighth NFL season. The Jets drafted him third overall in 2019 out of Alabama, where he won the Outland Trophy and was a unanimous All-American in 2018. New York went 33-75 in his seven-plus seasons there. He made four straight Pro Bowls from 2022 through 2025 and was a First-team All-Pro in 2022.
Williams was one of five interior defensive linemen Dallas kept on its initial 53-man roster, alongside Kenny Clark, Otito Ogbonnia, Jonathan Bullard and fourth-round rookie L.T. Overton. The Cowboys waived four defensive tackles on Sunday.
Dallas rebuilt the rest of the front around him, trading for Rashan Gary and signing Von Miller to a one-year deal announced Aug. 16.
Williams is the younger brother of linebacker Quincy Williams and grew up in Birmingham, Alabama.
Dallas opens the regular season Sunday, Sept. 13, at the New York Giants. Kickoff is set for 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC.
