For the past 20 years, the Dallas Cowboys have been marred by very good tight end play. Drafted in 2003, Jason Witten played 16 years with the Cowboys, catching 1,215 passes for 12,977 yards and is sure to be inducted into the Hall of Fame soon. But despite having great players, the Cowboys were always drawn to spending premium draft stock on tight ends. With Witten on the roster, Dallas has drafted three tight ends in the second round. (Anthony Fasano, Martellus Bennett, Gavin Escobar) Old habits die hard as the Cowboys are still stuck in the same philosophy.
Last season, Jake Ferguson broke out for the team with 71 receptions, 761 yards, and five scores. Ferguson has a unique blend of wide catch range and athleticism led by a great handset and the potential to make plays after the catch. Ferguson made the Pro Bowl last season as a sleeper. Ferguson's success has caught the attention of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who praises Ferguson's talent. Ferguson's stellar 2023 season has him overshadowed by last year's second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker.
Schoonmaker's selection is puzzling, as many players didn't have such high grades on Schoonmaker, and even after Dalton Kincaid and Sam LaPorta were removed, the Cowboys were in a tough situation no matter what. It looked like it was on the board. Despite his impressive RAS score of 9.86, it was a puzzling selection for the team. By acquiring Schoonmaker, Dallas inherits Ocyrus Torrence (OG), Sidney Brown (S), and Drew Sanders (LB), and Schoonmaker totaled 8 receptions for 65 yards in his first season. In retrospect, it seemed even worse. You should also consider that Schoonmaker is not an exceptional blocking tight end.
Schoonmaker's designation becomes even more puzzling because teams can consistently mine tight ends. Many criticized the front office for letting Dalton Schultz go after he had a solid 2021 season with Dak Prescott and a 2022 season on the franchise tag. The Cowboys were comfortable parting ways with Schultz because of Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot. Hendershot was off the field last season on injured reserve, but he proved to be a versatile receiving option at tight end that works to find favorable matchups. Frankly, he's a luxury now, and if a team wanted to acquire one of their tight ends, he would be their first choice in a trade. He doesn't offer the same blocking upside as most other players and isn't all that different from what the team already has.
Plus, when you factor in newcomers, it becomes difficult for Hendershot to maintain support from coaches. Jon Stevens entered camp last season as a converted wide receiver and quickly showed his potential as a receiving mismatch. He was too fast for linebackers and too big for some defensive backs. Since suffering his ACL tear last summer, he has made a good recovery and will enter camp ready to compete for a roster spot. But he's not alone. The team also added two tight ends, Alec Holler and Brevin Spann-Ford, as undrafted free agents after the draft. The latter could be seen on screen as a punitive blocker in the move and help fill the void left by Sean McKeown. There is no contract after the end of last season.
Depth is a good problem, but the Cowboys have too much of it at that position, and it all goes back to spending premium draft capital on a position the Cowboys can almost easily fill. It's not Luke Schoonmaker's fault that the team valued him so highly, but it's frustrating that the team could easily find an option to fill a similar role later in the round. The well-stocked tight end group deserves equal parts praise and scorn for the Cowboys' mastery of finding talent from their position group, but they don't quite know how to evaluate it. Hopefully, Jake Ferguson continues to rise as one of the up-and-comers at his position and the Cowboys can trade a bunch of tight ends, bait or otherwise, unless they risk having too much of a good one. You will find other purposes.
