FORT WORTH, Texas — With all respect to the Oklahoma Roy Williams, not the Texas Roy Williams, Donovan Wilson is closer to anything the Dallas Cowboys have had at safety since Darren Woodson.
Since the Cowboys’ dynasty days ended, no position has befuddled this franchise like safety. They have found successful starting quarterbacks at a better rate.
For nearly 20 years the Cowboys kept shopping in the Clearance rack and the Manager’s Special bins in hopes of finding a winner at safety, and the law of averages finally worked in their favor.
Donovan Wilson was a sixth-round draft pick out of Texas A&M in the 2019 NFL draft, and the man has developed into not only a player but the type of weapon this team has not had since Woody.
(No, Donovan Wilson is not Darren Woodson).
The Dallas Cowboys are 4-1 because their quarterback, who is a backup, has mastered completing about five starting quarterback-caliber passes per game, and he does not turn over the ball.
Mr. Perfect, quarterback Cooper Rush, plays to set up a defense that is the best in the NFL.
Credit to defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and the rest, which includes their starting safety who, at best, had “Special Teams Ace” as his high end coming out of Texas A&M.
“I never tried to prove anyone wrong. I wanted to prove myself right,” Wilson told me in the Cowboys’ locker room in a recent interview.
That’s a refreshing spin on a typically canned, cliched response.
“I have always believed in myself. My family always believed in me,” he said. “I have a good support system and I try to build off that support. It’s fun to do the job that you want to do. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but right here.”
As a sixth-round pick, Wilson’s window to make the team as a rookie in 2019 was decent. A sixth-round pick is a minimal investment, but teams will cut those guys, or move them to the practice squad, if they aren’t worthy of a spot on the 53-man roster.
Wilson made a positive impression as a rookie with his willingness to run downhill into an oncoming 18-wheeler. That was never an issue.
The issue was whether he could figure out how to play in space, and defend both the run and the pass. That’s what made Darren Woodson a Ring of Honor player.
If Wilson couldn’t figure that out, he was doomed to become another Xavier Woods, Kavon Frazier, J.J. Wilcox or any number of the other players the Cowboys have run out there in hopes that something good would happen.
That had been the problem ever since Woodson retired after the 2003 season.
His heir, Oklahoma Roy Williams, was drafted with the eighth overall pick in 2002. Roy was built for a different game, before every single down became a passing down.
He was never the same after his horse-collar tackle of then-Eagles receiver Terrell Owens in December of 2004 resulted in TO suffering a broken ankle. As a result of the play, the NFL changed the rule that made such tackles penalties.
Williams was basically a linebacker trying to play safety, and struggled in pass coverage.
The Cowboys had some luck at safety with Ken Hamlin in 2007, but that only lasted for one season.
Barry Church was decent. The same for Gerald Sensabaugh.
The Cowboys kept trying journeymen players in hopes of finding someone who was not a liability in pass coverage, and could play near the line of scrimmage.
Wilson is the closest they have come since Woody. Wilson is not a liability in coverage, and he can play near the line.
Against the Washington Team Football on Oct. 2, Wilson actually lined up on one play inside of Micah Parsons near the line of scrimmage.
Parsons was playing defensive end, and Wilson was basically in a defensive tackle spot. He’s a safety.
“You saw that right, sorta,” he said. “The coaches have a lot of schemes for us. They like to put players in different spots and see if they can make a splash in different areas. That really helps us when we can move around like chess pieces.”
It’s a bit premature to suggest the Cowboys have a King or Queen with Wilson at safety, but they finally have something more than just another pawn.
