The Cowboys’ second-round pick in 2022 missed all of last season after tearing his ACL in training camp. Now fully healthy, Williams can’t wait for the 2025 campaign to get underway.

A year removed from his devastating knee injury, Williams feels like he’s back to 100%, according to The Athletic’s Jon Machota. “Now, I feel unstoppable really,” Williams acknowledged.

The 26-year-old defensive lineman is so ready to get the season started that he even had to be pulled from a practice during training camp for hitting his teammates too hard.

Sam Williams is ready to turn Cowboys’ defense around

It’s unclear what exactly the Cowboys’ defense will look like in 2025. In addition to the potential, perhaps even likely, absence of Parsons, Dallas is on its third defensive coordinator in three years. The team cycled through Dan Quinn in 2023 and Mike Zimmer in 2024 before landing on Matt Eberflus in 2025.

Eberflus is best known for his failed three-year run as head coach of the Chicago Bears. He was fired by Chicago in November of 2024 after leading the Bears to a 4-8 start in his third season at the helm.

While Bears players weren’t fond of Eberflus, Williams is embracing his new defensive coordinator. “The main point and emphasis on his defense is to be violent. And I feel like I’m pretty good at that. … I love this defense,” Williams said, per Machota.

After the head coaching gig didn’t work out for Eberflus in Chicago, he’s returning to his roots in Dallas. Eberflus spent four seasons as the defensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts before he got the Bears job. And before he ran the defense in Indy, he logged seven years as the Cowboys’ linebackers coach.

Williams isn’t the only Cowboys defender who’s excited for the new coordinator. Interior lineman Osa Odighizuwa has also talked up Eberflus as Dallas attempts to improve a defense that ranked 28th in the league last season.