When the Dallas Cowboys waived running back Trey Williams from the active roster on Monday, they did so in hopes that he’d go unclaimed and they could sign him back to the practice squad.
But the New England Patriots, who lost Dion Lewis to a torn ACL almost a month ago, stepped in and snatched the Texas A&M product up on Tuesday.
The Cowboys signed Williams off the Redskins’ practice squad in early November, but he never appeared in a game for the team over four weeks in town, and was leapfrogged on the depth chart two weeks ago after the team signed Robert Turbin and plugged him in a game four days later.
Not surprisingly, given what they seem to always look for in skill players, the Patriots liked Williams’ versatility.
“He was a productive player last year at Texas A&M--well, actually two years ago was actually a more productive year for him,” Pats head coach Bill Belichick said, per Doug Kyed of NESN. “Last year, in the ’14 season, his role changed a little bit. Their offense changed a little bit with the new quarterback and so forth, but he was still productive, can catch the ball out of the backfield, return kicks and obviously can run the ball, as well. He has some versatility as a running back, as a receiver and as a returner. We’ll see how all of that goes. He’s a young player, hasn’t really played, but it’s not a position that we have a lot of depth in right now, so he was available, so we claimed him.”
