Cowboys training camp: After rigorous rehab, determined Sam Williams is back
It was early May, and Sam Williams’ phone buzzed at 9:20 p.m.
The Dallas Cowboys defensive end had just finished yet another day of rehabbing his torn ACL at the team facility -- one of six days in the week that he went in for treatment -- and he was about to call it a night to prepare for another day of rehab the next day.
He looked over. It was Charles Haley.
“Being human means I won’t have it all together, all the time,” Haley said in a three-paragraph text message. “It means I’ll stumble, question and doubt. But I’ll also rise, grow and keep moving forward.”
The Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end has had his fair share of adversity, both mental and physical, during his over 61 years of life. These days, he hangs around the Cowboys’ team facility as an extra pair of eyes for the defensive line room. For Williams, Haley has been a little more, providing both on-field and off-field advice for a young pass rusher with a lot of potential.
“He’s been a good mentor,” Williams said. “He’s crazy, though. He was helping me when I couldn’t run, we would do hands. When I couldn’t do hands, we’d do film. He’s just been there and teaching me.”
A long year
It’s been almost one year to the day since Williams hit the grass in Southern California during routine special teams drills with a major knee injury. After a grueling offseason in which head coach Brian Schottenheimer said Williams didn’t miss one day of treatment, Williams finally hit the field -- the very same field he suffered his setback last year -- this week for the first time since.
“He did not miss a day,” Schottenheimer said. “He really didn’t. He looks amazing. I cannot say enough about how bad he wants to go...The journey Sam has been on over the last 12 months has been incredible.”
Well, maybe he wanted to go a little too much.
With the pads still off and the team mostly going through install work on the first day of practice, Williams leveled undrafted tight end Tyler Neville on a run play that threw Neville back into the running back’s legs. While the excitement was high for his return, Schottenheimer had to quickly dial him back.
“We understand why he was so excited to be out there, but we can’t practice like that,” Schottenheimer said with a laugh. “But you know, what he did in practice is what you’re going to see on Sundays from Sam.”
“Pads or no pads, I’m going to give it my all,” Williams said. “I haven’t touched a pad in almost a year. When I put those pads on, I got to kill something.”
Even though the comical lapse in judgment from Williams didn’t draw the best look on Tuesday, the approach to the first major hurdle of his three-year career to this point drew overwhelming praise from everyone around him over the offseason.
From being arrested going into his second season for marijuana possession after his second speeding violation since arriving in the NFL to now being in a position to compete for a starting job immediately upon his return after attacking his rehab process, Williams will be the first to tell you that he had to do some growing up.
“I was patient, I took it in,” Williams said. “I developed myself as a person, myself as a player. I’m just grateful that I have the opportunity to play the game.”
Prescott sees maturity
While also rehabbing a major injury, quarterback Dak Prescott had a front-row seat for Williams’ rehab process and now his return to football.
“He’s still as funny as they get and he will still say whatever he wants,” Prescott said with a smile. “But the way he approaches the game, the way he shows up every day, the way I saw him attack the rehab, that alone you can tell that this guy is matured and that it continues and runs through every aspect of his life.”
Now, instead of getting out of bed to go work the rehab bands with director of rehabilitation Britt Brown on the Cowboys’ practice field while the rest of the team participates in on-field work, Williams now gets out of bed in Oxnard with pictures of his family on the wall to finally engage on the field.
“They’re a reminder of why I’m doing this,” Williams said about his family, which includes his two young sons. “I don’t know how to explain it. I’m just happy.”
The family aspect of Williams’ life really came into perspective during his year away from the field. With a different purpose and drive going into a contract year, his coaches expect a re-energized version of No. 54 in 2025.
“It’s been fun for me going back to his rookie year to watch Sam grow up and realize, ‘This is professional football, and I can take care of my family for generations,’” Schottenheimer said. “He’s on track to have an incredible year.”
While Williams is now on the other side of the most adverse year of his career, he will still take the lessons he learned while he was away from the game into his next chapter.
Maybe, just maybe, he refers back to that message Haley sent him three months ago.
“Life isn’t measured by how flawless our days look,” it said in an excerpt. “But by how gently we return to ourselves when the noise gets loud.”
The noise is growing for Williams. And soon, it will finally be time for him to respond back.
“I’m coming,” Williams said. “That’s all I got to say.”
This story was originally published July 24, 2025 at 6:19 PM.
