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Roy Williams Departure Seems Imminent

The 28 year-old will be traded or released before 2009.

By Scott M. Crisp

| Thursday, Mar 5, 2009 | Updated 8:45 AM CST

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Roy Williams will not be a Cowboy in 2009.(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

It is not an issue of if, but when the Cowboys will release safety Roy Williams at this point. Williams asked for the team to make a decision by Tuesday, a decree the Cowboys ignored, presumably because they don’t want to give up on finding a team that will trade for him.

Hopeful, but hardly realistic; there is not a team in the league willing to shoulder the 28 year-old’s contract. Not at this point, coming off a season in which the safety registered six tackles in three games. Not in this economy.

No one saw this coming in 2002.

Of course, the fact that Roy Williams will be gone in 2009 is not at all surprising. In fact, it was all but a forgone conclusion going into the off season.

But lost in all this is Williams’ remarkably quick descent in the blue and silver; he may be the franchise’s first full fledged star to slide into the role of pariah in less than five years. And make no mistake, Williams was a full-fledged, face-of-the-franchise superstar, ostensibly a sign of progress, of a brighter future for Dallas. Instead, consistent mediocrity on the field has led to a presumably quiet and unceremonious exit from Dallas.

Williams burst on the scene in 2002, the Cowboys' First Round pick, and alongside Darren Woodson, became known as one of the hardest and most feared hitters in the league. He was second in Defensive Rookie of the Year votes that season. Cowboys fans whooped and awed at Williams' reckless abandon on the field. It was meant to be, it seemed. Most Dallas fans first saw Williams in the Red River Shootout, flying over Texas' offensive line to strip Chris Simms of the ball before he knew what had happened.

Superman was wearing a Dallas Cowboys uniform.

But a mere seven years later, Williams has become an afterthought in Dallas, maligned by consistent weakness in coverage and a forearm injury that limited him to three games in 2008. Only time will tell if he will regain the defensive prowess he showed early in the decade but, in any case, he won’t be doing so in a Cowboys uniform. Au revoir. Sayonara. Happy trails.

Oh how the mighty have fallen.