Will Terrance Williams play for the Dallas Cowboys in 2017?

According to Vice President Stephen Jones, the Dallas Cowboys want to re-sign him.

Stephen Jones said Cowboys would like to re-sign both unrestricted free agent WRs Terrance Williams and Brice Butler.

— Brandon George (@DMN_George) January 24, 2017

Williams has played in all 16 games each season since 2013, and his best season (in terms of receptions and receiving yards) was in 2015 when Dez Bryant only played in nine games.

In 2015, Williams posted a 52-840-3 stat line.

But in terms of touchdown production, he’s regressed since 2013.

You can see that Williams’ seasons started out promising after he was drafted, which gave Fantasy Football players a reason to believe he should have been worth starting when Bryant was out.

However, the former third-round pick from the 2013 NFL Draft hasn’t lived up to expectations.

And this season, his numbers really took a hit…

Williams caught the same amount of passes in 2016 as he did in his first year with the Cowboys. But the big difference is he recorded a 16.7 yards per catch (YPC) average in 2013.

In 2016, he only recorded a 13.5 YPC average.

And unless something drastically changes, Williams will not be worth targeting in 2017 Fantasy Football leagues.

But because of Bryant’s injury history, it’s still worth handcuffing Bryant to another receiver on Dallas. If you don’t draft Bryant, you could also just draft a receiver on Dallas as a deep sleeper.

Cole Beasely had a handful of solid Fantasy performances in 2016, but I wouldn’t want to rely on him in regular season long leagues. I would much rather target him in MFL10s.

So who should you target on Dallas as Bryant’s backup?

The player I’m watching heading into the 2017 Fantasy Football season is Brice Butler. I drafted him in Round 21 in the 2016 Scott Fish Bowl, not buying into Williams being worth starting if Bryant was out.

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound wide receiver was a seventh-round pick in the 2013 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders. While his college work didn’t wow teams, Butler posted a 40-yard dash time of 4.37.

When you combine that with his height and weight, that sounds like a tough receiver to stop (on paper).

Butler only had one relevant performance this season, posting a 5-41-1 stat line in Week 4 against the San Francisco 49ers. But unless the Cowboys draft a star rookie receiver in the 2017 NFL Draft, I’m still taking a flier on Butler in 2017.

Here’s why…

Even though he only caught 16 passes this season, three of those passes were touchdowns. And Butler also finished fourth in red-zone targets even though he only caught 16 passes.

What I like about that is if Dak Prescott and Butler can build their rapport, Butler could finish with more red-zone touchdowns. Beasley is only 5-foot-8, so Butler is obviously a larger target.

Now, I’m fully prepared to just stash Butler on my bench and see what happens. If he works out on his own or steps up if Bryant is injured, that will be great.

And if he doesn’t work out by the middle of the season, I won’t lose any sleep if I cut him.

So if Butler is still with the team at the start of the 2017 Fantasy Football season, I’m targeting him over Williams.

Categories: 2017 Fantasy Football, 2017 Fantasy Football Wide Receivers, Fantasy Football

Tags: Dallas Cowboys Fantasy Football, Terrance Williams 2017 Fantasy Football, Terrance Williams Dallas Cowboys, Terrance Williams Fantasy Football, Will Terrance Williams Play