Fantasy Football Video: Lessons learned from the Cowboys' backfield after Javonte Williams' breakout season
The Dallas Cowboys may have missed the 2025 NFL playoffs but they gave fantasy football managers plenty of value this season. From QB Dak Prescott to WR George Pickens and perhaps most notably RB Javonte Williams, Dallas' roster was full of fantasy goodness, and was only made better by its putrid defense. On the latest episode of the Yahoo Fantasy Forecast, analysts Matt Harmon and Justin Boone go over their top lessons learned from the Cowboys' backfield this season.
Harmon begins the segment by reminiscing on a ill-advised preseason call for Jaydon Blue as a sleeper pick in drafts, a potential lead option in the backfield for Dallas as a rookie. Blue was mostly forgotten and it was Williams who took on the majority of the work, both on the ground and in the passing game. Harmon points out Williams' involvement in the pass game was a big reason he finished as a top-12 RB in fantasy in 2025.
Williams, who entered his first season with the Cowboys not looking the same since a major knee injury in 2022, was overlooked in fantasy drafts because of that. He went on to post career highs across the board on the ground - 1,201 rushing yards on 252 attempts with 11 touchdowns. He also added 35 catches for 137 yards and a pair of scores.
Boone echoes the sentiment that we all got it wrong with Williams before the season. He came out hot out the gate with 64 yards on 17 touches with two touchdowns in Week 1 against the Eagles. Williams would get at least 15 touches in every game through Week 7.
The 25-year-old back had always been a player who split the work in backfields in Denver, says Boone. That led many of us to believe he couldn't handle a full workload as the lead back in Dallas. Williams proved us all wrong and it tells us that taking a chance on the veteran back late in your draft wasn't a bad idea after all.
Williams is a free agent and it appears the Cowboys want to bring him back, which would be an ideal situation for the veteran RB to retain fantasy value in an elite offense in 2026.