For wideout Roy Williams, the NFL lockout has provided the eight-year veteran with ample time to rest a battered body, but he sees how it's stolen from the growth of the Dallas Cowboys.
"We're losing our key time to jell as a team," Williams said. "That's when you come together, in offseason, OTAs, minicamps. We try to make it up with our own workouts, but it's not the same as it is when the coaches are pushing you."
Still, Williams sees a silver lining to the extended break.
"I talked to a player who was contemplating retirement, but the lockout has gotten his body back to where it needs to be," Williams told the *Odessa American* over the weekend. "For us older players, it's good."
Williams told the American he is focused on helping the Cowboys get back to winning after last year's bitterly disappointing campaign.
"We looked like paper champs. We had the team, we had the talent, but when we played, it didn't pan out for us. We have to be better next year," Williams said.
Williams, who notched 21 receptions for 306 yards and five touchdowns in his first five games in 2010, had just 16 catches for 224 yards with no scores down the stretch.
With a salary-cap hit close to $9.4 million, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, there is speculation Williams could be done in Dallas shortly after a headline-grabbing trade brought him over from the Detroit Lions in 2008 for first-, third- and sixth-round picks in the 2009 draft.
"When I first got to Dallas and saw all the media -- in Detroit we only had like four or five guys -- in Dallas, it's like 25, 26. It's 'America's Team,' the most-viewed organization in any sport.
"It's been tough, because everybody's expecting me to do all these things that I'm very capable of doing when given the opportunity," Williams said. "I'm a role player, and I just try to make the plays whenever they come my way."
