For over a decade, tight end for the Dallas Cowboys was one of the most steady positions in all of sports. Jason Witten was going to be there every Sunday, and he was going to be the same consistent player no matter what he was dealing with that particular week.
The previous few years, however, Dallas' tight end situation has gotten much more murky.
Of course, Witten retired to begin a short stint in the Monday Night Football booth, later returning to the Cowboys in his advanced age. The franchise has also had issues finding a suitable replacement, though they really haven't tried to find one by most standards.
All of this leaves the Cowboys in a interesting spot at tight end. They have an offense loaded with talent: Amari Cooper, Ezekiel Elliott, Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup, Zack Martin…do I need to keep naming them? But none of this high-end talent is found at tight end. All of this leads Bleacher Report to (seemingly) reasonably discern that tight end is the Cowboys biggest “red flag” entering the 2020 season.
But is this true?
Brent Sobleski argued that while there may be promise around Blake Jarwin, the Cowboys don't have a tight end they can hang their hat on right now. And he's not totally wrong. The tight end room is full of a lot of unproven assets with now, but if their biggest chip hits, Dallas will reap a multitude of benefits this season.
“Quarterback Dak Prescott leaned on Witten to work the middle of the field and provide a reliable target. The Cowboys don't have that player on the roster right now.”
Gone are the days of “security blanket” Jason Witten. But here are the days of the potentially big play making Blake Jarwin. Jarwin has seen limited time during his young career, but he's clearly built a rapport with quarterback Dak Prescott.
Jarwin is the athletic seam threat the Cowboys really haven't had at tight end since…well who knows when. He could be a totally different type of weapon than the Cowboys have had at the position in quite a while.
And could be just the final weapon an already loaded Cowboys offense needs.
