How much do the Dallas Cowboys need to upgrade the tight end position? It's an intriguing situation for the team because it has a lot of moving parts. First of all, are they even interested in bringing Jason Witten back? With Mike McCarthy as the new Head Coach, it's likely that feelings about the Cowboys legend are different in the building. But most importantly, how do they feel about Blake Jarwin?
Jarwin has been in the league since 2017 but it still feels like we haven't gotten a chance to truly see him play. He's been a backup all of his career. Even in 2018, when Jason Witten retired to call games on ESPN's Monday Night Football, Blake got nothing but 36% of the offensive snaps.
Last season, when news broke on Witten's return, fans got excited because… well, he is Jason Witten. But once everyone's feelings sobered up, questions began to emerge. How much playing time will he get? Is Blake Jarwin going to get significant playing time? We even heard reports on the Cowboys wanting to play their returning veteran for approximately 25% of the snaps.
But he didn't get that. Instead, he got 75% of the snaps while Jarwin was in for only 39%.
I believe we found out that Witten, unfortunately, wasn't as good as before. Meanwhile, we found out very little about the 25-year-old tight end. Sure, Blake Jarwin showed us some impressive plays and great speed in a few plays. But he remains a question mark for the Cowboys going forward.
Can he start?
I like what we've seen from him so far and it was frustrating to watch him for so little time last season. But I'm not convinced we can assume he'd be a good starter. With plenty of needs for the Cowboys, it's hard to know how much do they believe an upgrade at tight end is needed. Will they take one early in the draft or target someone once the free agency period begins?
I sure hope we get to see more of him next season. If you're looking at the box score, he hasn't done much in his career. But he hasn't gotten the chance to play as a starter when he's likely earned it.
