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Editor's note: This post originally published on Nov. 4, 2025. It was updated on July 22, 2026.
The Cowboys took a big swing at the trade deadline during the 2025 season, acquiring Pro Bowl defensive tackle Quinnen Williams from the New York Jets in exchange for Mazi Smith, a first-round pick and a second-round pick.
Heading into the 2026 season, Williams should play an important role on a defense led by new coordinator Christian Parker.
Here are ten things to know about Williams:
1. The basics
Position: Defensive lineman
Height/weight: 6-3, 303 lbs
Date of birth: Dec. 21, 1997 (Age: 28)
College: Alabama
Hometown: Birmingham, Ala.
2. He wants a taste of postseason success
While Williams has delivered on high expectations throughout his NFL career, he has yet to make a postseason appearance. The Jets averaged just over five wins per season in his six full seasons there.
He wants to make his playoff debut in Dallas.
"As an ultra competitor, I think anybody who's going through many, many losses like I was going through, there's going to be frustration," Williams said right after he was traded. "...[The Jets] knew I was frustrated. I think the world knew I was frustrated being there so long and still losing."
3. Big money player
Williams is one of Dallas' highest-paid players. According to Spotrac, the defensive lineman currently has the third-highest cap hit on the team at $21.6 million for the 2026 season.
The Cowboys want to run a versatile defense under coordinator Christian Parker. Williams should play an important role in the unit's success.
4. Top-end pedigree
Williams was a four-star defensive tackle ranked just outside the top 150 nationally coming out of high school, according to 247Sports' Class of 2016 rankings. He signed with Alabama and spent three seasons playing under legendary coach Nick Saban.
After redshirting his true freshman year, he played every game for the Crimson Tide the next two seasons, winning a national title at the end of the 2017 season and playing in another the following year. In his final collegiate season, Williams starred for Alabama, earning First Team All-America and All-SEC selections.
5. High draft pick
After his outstanding college career, Williams was selected third overall by the New York Jets in the 2019 NFL draft.
Ahead of him, the Cardinals selected former Allen and Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray at No. 1 and the 49ers took former Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa. Not bad company for Williams.
Williams has justified his high draft selection by becoming one of the best interior defensive linemen in the league. He has made the Pro Bowl the last four seasons in a row (2022-2025) and earned a First Team All-Pro nod in 2022.
6. Iconic pre-draft moment
If the name Quinnen Williams sounds familiar for non-football reasons, this viral video from an interview he gave before the 2019 NFL draft might be why.
That's right. That's a young Williams sneezing, then blessing and thanking himself afterward. Easy to see why the funny, but unusual moment got some traction online all those years.
7. Best of Bama
We saw it with Tyler Booker as well: The Nick Saban Alabama Football Factory was really something to behold.
Working under perhaps the greatest college football coach of all time clearly left an impression on Williams, who said immediately after his selection by the Jets that he spoke with Saban every day leading up to the draft
"Coach Saban's been amazing, man," Williams said in 2019. "Giving me advice every day since I declared. How to be a pro, what I need to look for, different things like that. Since I declared, I called Coach Saban every other day to learn from him, learn different things about the NFL, basically get a blueprint from him."
Williams was one of many, many Crimson Tide players who came out of college immediately ready to step into the NFL - physically and mentally.
8. Caught himself
These guys come out of Tuscaloosa nice and media-trained. Williams regularly presents himself well publicly (see the sneezing video above), and even when he slips up, he catches himself.
See the video below from when Alabama took on Oklahoma and Kyler Murray in the Orange Bowl in 2018. Williams looked like he was about to share his true thoughts on Murray before the game ... but immediately caught himself and thought better of it.
"I feel like Kyler Murray is not what everybody-" Williams started, before stopping dead and clearing his throat. "Nah, I'm good..."
9. He's got a brother in the NFL
Quinnen's older brother Quincy Williams is also in the NFL. Quincy, a linebacker, was drafted in the third round of the 2019 draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
After spending two seasons in Jacksonville, Quincy joined Quinnen on the Jets ahead of the 2021 season and the two had been consistent contributors in New York. With Quinnen moving forward in Dallas, Quincy signed with the Cleveland Browns in the 2026 offseason.
10. He's a girl dad
Williams is a dad. The defensive lineman and his wife, Maranda, welcomed their first daughter in May 2023. The couple named their first-born child True Amour.
On July 22, Quinnen and Maranda announced that they were expecting a second child.
Read this story on dallasnews.com
