FRISCO, Texas – On Tuesday, Quinnen Williams got a call from his agent. Then, he got a couple more calls from Jets head coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey.
The message was the same: They were letting him know that he was being traded to the Dallas Cowboys.
"I definitely was surprised by it," Williams said of the trade news. "It's unbelievable though, to be able to come to an organization with so much history, so much talent on the team, great ownership, a great group of guys in the locker room and a great head coach and the things that their guys are doing here, so I'm super happy to be a part of this."
The Cowboys sent a 2026 second-round pick, the better of their two 2027 first-round picks and DT Mazi Smith to the Jets in exchange for Williams. Dallas believes adding Williams to a defensive line that already features Kenny Clark and Osa Odighizuwa will greatly improve their defense, especially since the position coach that helped Williams reach three straight Pro Bowls in Aaron Whitecotton is now in the same role with the Cowboys. Williams feels the same excitement.
"I'm super happy to be part of this defensive line group that's super loaded and super talented with Kenny Clark and [Odighizuwa] and Dante Fowler and coach Aaron [Whitecotton], it's unbelievable to go to work with those guys, and I'm looking forward to it." Williams said.
What was Williams' message to Cowboys fans on the kind of player that the franchise was getting in him?
"Actions speak louder than words when it comes down to that statement," Williams said. "I hang my hat on being disruptive, being dominant and rushing the passer. And also this year, I've been taking a step forward in stopping the run."
"I've been reading a lot of stuff and seeing a lot of stuff on Dallas stopping the run, so having the opportunity to come here and help those guys out at that and just turn this thing around when it comes down to that point, it's going to be unbelievable for me."
Against the Cardinals last week, the Cowboys defense shifted to more five-man fronts, and the addition of Williams begs the question of whether or not Dallas will go to that look more often with Williams now in the fold. Will that be the case? Maybe, maybe not, but if it is, Williams is very familiar with his teammates' playing styles, even of those teammates he hasn't taken a snap with yet.
"Whatever my job is to do, man," Williams said. "I think that's mostly the coach's job to figure out how that is going to happen. Like I said, they're two elite defensive tackles man…" Williams said. "When it comes to the things that they both do, I know Kenny Clark very well. I studied his film like no other when he was at Green Bay in the two-tech rushing he had."
"I love to see [Odighizuwa] the things he's done recently the last two to three years. The pass rushing, the run stuff that he has and the disruptive that he has also. And you've got Solomon Thomas in that room also who I'm very familiar with, so I'm just super ecstatic to be a part of a group of guys that not only I can learn from, grow with, but work alongside."
After the Jets compiled a 33-75 record over the six and a half years that Williams played for them, there was understandably some frustration on Williams' part as a competitor, and he was open about it as he prepares for his new start with the Cowboys.
"As a ultra competitor, I think anybody who's going through many, many losses like I was going through, it's going to be frustration," Williams said. "I know guys who've won their whole life and they lose one game, they'll be frustrated. So of course I was frustrated. But the relationship that I have with [Jets HC Aaron Glenn] and the relationship that I have with [Jets GM Darren Mougey] there, it's still great relationships."
"They knew I was frustrated, I think the whole world knew I was frustrated, being there so long and still losing. Like I said, any ultra competitor, any guy who plays this game to win is going to be frustrated no matter if you win 100 games and you lose that one."
Even in a new home in Dallas, his primary focus remains the same: Winning.
"I'm hungry to win, I'm hungry to win. That's the main thing," Williams said. "I'm an ultimate competitor, man. Everything I do is about winning. Everything I do, everything I work, when I wake up I just want to win. That's what kind of forms my ego of I can do anything the coaches ask me to do if it's going to get us a win."
As to what he can do to help the Cowboys win, Williams is willing to do whatever it takes on and off the field to help turn Dallas' defense around not just in 2025, but beyond as well.
"At the end of the day, if I can be on the field, and if I can do the things I know I can do, I can be a help to this defense, a help to this team to win football games," Williams said. "No matter what they ask me to do, no matter what they want me to do, if it's to get all three of [himself, Clark and Odighizuwa] on the field moving to d-end for a couple of plays, I'm willing to do that, whatever they ask me to do. I pride myself on being the best player, best person I am in the locker room and on the field."
