The Dallas Cowboys have a gaping hole to fill with the sudden retirement of tight end Jason Witten. Instead of going out and signing a free agent, the Cowboys plan to replace the perennial Pro Bowler by a committee composed of Geoff Swaim, Rico Gathers, Blake Jarwin, Dalton Schultz and David Wells.
While none of those players can be described as “proven” NFL tight ends, Witten believes they have it in them to succeed.
Per Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News:
“So those guys will be OK. I feel like sitting in those meetings with them and going through the last few years, they know what it takes to play that position. I hope that I have shown them that, but they can’t put the pressure on themselves. They just need to go play and feel confident in that system. Scott Linehan has had success with tight ends, so they’ll figure out their roles and what they want to do. Really, more than anything, they got to get comfortable in this Dak-friendly offense that they’re building in Dallas.”
Witten singled out Swaim, who is easily the most experienced of the bunch. Witten thinks there’s upside to his ability and that he'll have to carry the workload while the less experienced tight ends get up to speed. The former Cowboy is also high on Gathers’ ability to stretch the field as an athletic receiver, although he acknowledges that the youngster still needs to show more consistency.
It certainly won’t be easy for the Cowboys to fill the shoes of a legend like Witten. But the former Cowboy is a believer that the direction the team has chosen for the tight end position will end up paying dividends.
