Former Cowboys wide receiver Roy Williams is back in Odessa where it all began.
Two years ago he started a trucking company â RDUB trucking â and 14 vehicles later business is good.
He pushes water mostly in trucks decorated with Longhorns and burnt orange.
It's a far cry from the lazy retirement he always envisioned.
"I played golf, I played with my children and I played video games for three weeks," said Williams. "I could not sit still. I knew nothing about it, knew absolutely nothing about trucking or the oil field. I knew that I loved here in the oil field, but knew nothing about it."
So much was expected of the NFL Pro Bowl receiver when Dallas acquired him from Detroit for several draft picks including a first rounder. The Cowboys signed him to a 6-year extension worth $56 million, a deal that would have ended after this season.
But Williams' success with the Lions didn't translate. His production dropped off even though the Dallas and Detroit offenses were similar.
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"Once I got to Dallas and I saw that we were running the same plays, but different, I couldn't buy into that because, 'It's not working, coach'," said Williams.
"It works for Jason Witten because he's running 5- to 10-yard routes, but us on the outside, we got to run something different than a 15-yard stop route. We got to run something different out here, I didn't come here for that. That might have rubbed people the wrong way, but that's why I go back to my drivers trying to tell me what to do. So then if I could go back, I'd just buy in. 'You want 15 yards coach? I'm going to run 15 yards and run in and if it gets picked off, it gets picked off. They're going to blame me anyway.'"
Williams continued. "It is what it is man, it was a great time and I don't regret anything that happened. You learn, like I said. If I had to do it over, I'm going back after every practice me and Romo would get 10 reps, 10 extra routes a day. Because what nobody knows is when we had the lockout year, we had players only practices. And I think Miles had a hamstring at the time, Dez was absent for various reasons. So it was me and Ogletree. So guess what I got to do? I got to play X, I got to play Z, I got to play Y. And wherever the ball was going, that's where number 11 was. And man, I'm talking about it was magical out there."
"The thing I'll never forget is Romo said, 'It took us 4-and-half years and the light bulbs finally went off.' And I was like, 'Heck yes. Like, I'm ready. I'm ready!' A couple of weeks later I got the phone call saying, 'We are going to head in another direction.' And I was just like, 'Dang.'
Williams signed 1-year deal with the Chicago Bears for the 2011 season, his final contract in the NFL. Leaving the game at 30-years-old, retirement came earlier than expected.
"During that season I knew it was time. If the media wasn't the way that it was or social media, I would have quit during the middle of the season. My body was just breaking down. I felt those, and I had five different injuries and I cried after the game to my family and I said, 'This is it, I can't go no more."
Which brings us back to Odessa where Williams stays active with local softball leagues and golf. RDUB trucking is a full-time job, but the retired receiver doesn't see it that way.
"It is retirement," Williams said. "Like I said, I could still go play today, but teams would have to give me about two months to get this gut off me. I'm 247 pounds and I played at 215."
"Retirement is great man. You get to golf, you get to play with your kids, you're not leaving them for six months out of the year. It's just a whole new world."
