Williams Hits The Weights…Finally

In an age where Major League Baseball pitchers, NASCAR drivers, and even in some cases, golfers adhere to strict conditioning programs, the thought of an NFL player -- not a kicker -- not employing resistance training habitually, almost religiously in his preparation is, in a word, shocking.
 
It makes sense then, that Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback on sportsillustrated.com begins, "I think the most amazing thing I've heard in the past month…"
 
King is referring to Cowboys’ receiver Roy Williams who, according to an acquaintance close to the player, has never -- at the University of Texas, and with the Lions for 4 ½ seasons -- lifted weights seriously.
 
"I'm serious,'' the acquaintance of Williams told King. "Roy never lifted before. Now that he has, and now that he's serious about making himself a great football player, especially with T.O. gone, I think he's really going to have a good year.''
 
The development attests to Williams’ pure talent, for sure, as an athlete and a football player, but it also goes a long way in explaining the oft-heard criticism of Williams’ work ethic.
 
This is particularly intriguing, as rumblings in Dallas last season had strength and conditioning coach Joe Juraszek as a major candidate for scapegoat.
 
And this is not new.
 
Questions surrounding Dallas’ preparation with respect to conditioning have been present to some degree since the departure of Mike Woicik, who won three Super Bowl rings with New England after leaving Dallas (with three Super Bowl rings) in 1997.
 
As far as Cowboys’ fans are concerned, this could be a promising sign of Williams’ maturation.
 
The deluge of criticism that surrounded the deal to acquire Williams, as well as the player himself, is in major part a product of Dallas, and the win-now-or-else atmosphere of the Cowboys as a franchise; that is, there could be no such scathing indictments in Detroit. Even if there were, they couldn’t possibly carry as much weight as in Dallas.
 
Last season may have been the wake-up call that Williams needed and never got in four and a half seasons in Detroit.
 
Now that Williams himself is carrying some weights, Dallas may have an opportunity to make a number one receiver out of a borderline-bust.
 
Williams, in a considerable shift from past years, has been praised tirelessly for his work this off-season, on the field with Tony Romo, in the film room and now, in the weight room as well.
 
In the worst-case scenario, this is a passing phase for a player with a chronically bad work ethic.
 
But in the best, Williams will enter 2009 with a caveat attached to his name usually unheard of among sixth-year former Pro Bowlers; that is, no one truly knows yet just how good he can be.
 
Let’s hope for the latter.