For the first time in his NFL career, Jason Witten will be playing for a team other than the Dallas Cowboys, as the tight end signed with the Las Vegas Raiders in free agency.

While that provides Blake Jarwin with the opportunity to be the Cowboys' full-time starting tight end, Jarwin is grateful for everything Witten did, even if it meant playing the role of backup throughout Witten's time in Dallas:

“I’ve always been thankful for what he’s done for me,” Jarwin said, according to Todd Archer of ESPN.com. “He never had to stop and tell me and Dalton [Schultz] about things he sees, and he did anyway. I don’t care about what people thought. We never thought like that in our tight-end room. We had a pretty close relationship. It’s going to be a little different seeing [Witten] in a Raiders jersey.”

Witten broke into the NFL with the Cowboys in 2003 and spent 15 seasons in Dallas before stepping away for one year to join the Monday Night Football broadcast booth in 2018.

However, Witten returned this past season.

Jarwin, who entered the league in 2017, has always admired Witten's work ethic:

“As a rookie, I’m pretty reserved as it is, and I’d just kind of stay away and watch how he worked,” Jarwin said of first encountering Witten three years ago. “He came in every single day like he was still trying to make it. When it was his turn, he’s going 100 percent. But he always felt like he had something to prove.”

Jarwin is coming off of a 2019 campaign in which he caught 31 passes for 365 yards and three touchdowns. He is about to get a much bigger opportunity in 2020, and he'll surely put to use all of the things that Witten taught him.