Good article by Mickey Spagnola: "So what about Roy?"

Yeah, him, Roy Williams, the team's franchise strong safety fast turning into an enigma after five seasons in this league.

You know, the Pro Bowl safety who certainly did not perform this 2006 season like a guy earning an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii compliments of his peers and fans.

The same safety who led the Cowboys in interceptions on one hand, but also might have led them in blown coverages on the other.

The guy Cowboys owner Jerry Jones guaranteed $11.1 million this summer by extending his expiring contract through the 2010 season, handing him $5.5 million then and promising the remaining $5.5 million in March.

By all rights, the guy who should have been one of this team's leaders, both on the field and in the locker room, but who prefers to fade into the woodwork in either environment and has little to decreasingly no interaction with what seems to be a loyal fan base through its media intermediaries.

That guy.

Let's talk, and might as well as we sit here these days anxiously awaiting for the papal smoke to waft out of the head coach's office at The Ranch signally a yea or a nay on Bill Parcells' coaching future with the Cowboys.

Now Williams is not the only other hot topic out here after the Cowboys were tragically eliminated from the NFC playoffs last weekend to culminate an already frustrating 9-7 regular season, somehow losing a two-game lead in the NFC East with only four games to go.

But most of these other issues can't be sorted out until Parcells announces his decision on whether to continue coaching or not. Things like, who will become the team's defensive coordinator to replace Mike Zimmer? What other staff members might not return? What will be the most pressing off-season personnel priorities? You get the idea.

So in the meantime, let's chew on this Roy business, shall we?

As in: Where the heck is he?

Where is that guy the Cowboys spent an eighth pick in the draft on in 2002? The guy who had a career-high 127 tackles that season, along with a career-high seven behind the line of scrimmage?

Where is that guy who would have regularly appeared on ESPN's favorite Monday night segment of "Jacked Up," he being the one doing the jacking up?

Why did this four-time Pro Bowler not have a Pro Bowl impact on this team this year? Talk about Terrell Owens, come on.

Look, I know he had five interceptions this season, and another one in the playoffs. But sometimes interceptions don't tell the whole story, because if they did, then you would argue to me Williams is better in coverage than Terence Newman, who finished the regular season with only one interception.

This guy should be all about tackles, yet he had but 86 this year, fourth on the team - and behind a cornerback for goodness sakes (Anthony Henry). He had only two tackles for losses, one forced fumble and one quarterback pressure. And don't tell me they didn't blitz him enough. They did, but when they did, he didn't get there.

Hey, in that Philadelphia game, the one at Texas Stadium on Christmas Day, by golly the official play-by-play crew credited him with one tackle. One! Although, he did end up with two more after the coaches' tape review. To me, that's an invisible performance.

That wasn't just an aberration, either. He finished the Carolina game with one "assisted" tackle. Arizona with one tackle. Seattle with three.

Where's ol' Roy?

Now Jones says this upon further review:

"We got to get Roy close, we got to get him more where he can get up and make more plays," said the owner on this week's segment on The Ticket, the flagship station of the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network. "I think everybody recognizes that.

"We say we're going to do that every time this time of year, (and) we need to start doing it more."

No arguments there. But here's two problems. One, Williams wasn't that good close to the line of scrimmage this year. Hey, you saw him whiff on Shaun Alexander five yards deep in the backfield. You saw him take too many bad angles in run pursuit this year.

And two, he's a safety. At times, safeties have to play in coverage. You can't always play an eight-man front. You can't always play in single safety formation. Someone has to cover the tight end or the running backs out of the backfield at times.

Now I know what you guys are screaming. I've read it. Frankly, too many times, until you've turned blue in the face. Move Roy to linebacker.

Baloney. He's can't play linebacker. He can't. You realize he's 6-foot, 229 pounds (listed). How many 6-foot, 230-pound linebackers (I'll give him a pound) you know in the NFL these days? I mean, you seriously think he can play Greg Ellis' vacated outside left linebacker spot on this 3-4 defense?

Right, I'd love to see him standing up on the line of scrimmage trying to fend off one of those 340-pound offensive tackles. He'd get squashed.

And what else do the Cowboys ask those outside linebackers to do? Like go into the slot and reroute receivers when teams go three wide. Like cover sometimes. Do you not just cringe at the thought of Williams going one-on-one with, say, Tiki Barber? Oh, he won't have to, sorry, Tiki has retired. OK, then Brian Westbrook. Reggie Bush. Ha!

So you say, how about inside?

Please. You kidding me? They'll run him over so hard, he'll turn into a pancake by game's end. Single stack. If you watch closely, Williams rarely sheds a blocker to get to the ball carrier. He'll as soon turn a shoulder and give himself up than fight through the muck to make a tackle.

No, that's not the answer. Forget it.

So I figure there are two choices to get your $11 million out of Roy: Pair him with a Pro Bowl free safety or someone has to force him to work harder.

Now those Pro Bowl free safeties don't grow on trees. And generally, if a team has a legit one, he doesn't come free. And can you stomach spending another first-round pick on a defensive back? I mean, that would be three in secondary, along with having to pay basically first-round money to Henry. At this rate, you'll never get that difference-making wide receiver or second pass rusher or franchise-type offensive tackle or . . . heaven forbid if it should come to this . . . quarterback.

Come on, Williams shouldn't need Darren Woodson to hold his hand. Still. Maybe say a prayer for Patrick Watkins.

As I've said many a times, a lot of playing safety is recognition - knowing what to do when it's time to do it. That takes plenty of film study. Knowledge allows you to make decisions back there much quicker. Also allows you to play more aggressively.

See, what everyone needs to understand is that in the NFL there aren't many - if any - players who get to freelance, as Roy evidently did at Oklahoma. No defined position so to speak.

Hence, the Cowboys' dilemma.

But with the kind of money they just paid him - and will pay him - this must be solved. And you would hope, again, with the money the Cowboys have guaranteed, that Williams will do his part to help. Take responsibility for himself.

Because, look, there is a Pro Bowl safety somewhere inside No. 31. Somehow that guy needs to be extracted.

The Cowboys don't need another unsolved mystery out here.