NFL
Cowboys land Williams; ‘Pacman’ suspended
IRVING, Texas — Roy Williams headed home to Texas on Tuesday in the NFL’s biggest trade before the deadline, giving the struggling Dallas Cowboys another proven receiver opposite Terrell Owens.
The winless Detroit Lions traded their unhappy 2004 first-round pick and one-time Pro Bowler for three draft picks, from the first, third and sixth round in 2009. Detroit also gave the Cowboys a seventh-rounder next year.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he struck the deal two minutes before the NFL trade deadline.
“I’m more happy to be a Dallas Cowboy then when I got my first bike,” said Williams, an Odessa native who starred at the University of Texas.
Williams’ best season was 2006, when he went to the Pro Bowl after catching 82 passes for 1,310 yards and seven touchdowns. He has 17 catches for 232 yards and a score this season, and has 262 career passes for 3,884 yards and 29 TDs.
“We felt like right now that was the best thing for us to do as a football team. It gives us something for the future. You’re looking at the possibility of having five of the first hundred [2009] picks,” Lions General Manager Martin Mayhew said. “It was a pragmatic business decision.”
Soon after announcing the deal, the Cowboys said that they had given Williams a five-year extension on his contract that was set to expire after this season.
