In the spring of 2023, the Dallas Cowboys drafted an “old” tight end. At 25 years of age, Michigan’s Luke Schoonmaker should have been looking ahead to his third NFL season.
Not his rookie campaign.
Schoonmaker was battling a foot injury even before getting drafted in the second round. The injury appeared to have been aggravated in that year’s camps.
His numbers for 2023 were dismal, despite scoring two touchdowns that season.
He fared a little better in 2024, but nothing approaching what would be expected of a second-round pick.
Time Is Running Out
There are actually two swords currently dangling over Schoonmaker’s head.
He’s getting pushed by 2024 undrafted free agent Brevyn Spann-Ford as well as 2023 UDFAs Princeton Fant and John Stephens.
Stephens has had his last two seasons derailed in the preseason by injury. When healthy, he showed signs of being a solid player.
Fant has been impressing this year, perhaps understanding that he needs to make it this year, or he may not be in the NFL much longer.
As for Spann-Ford, with the reported emphasis on running the ball, Spann-Ford is the kind of blocking tight end Dallas will require.
He’s also shown an ability to catch some passes too, especially when Jake Ferguson went down with an injury last year.
Outplaying these three challengers is the first sword that Schoonmaker must deal with. He can control that.
He has no control over the other sword, however.
Salary Cap Cut?
Unless he can prove himself invaluable to the Cowboys’ offense, Schoonmaker’s contract could make him very expendable.
Especially if Spann-Ford and Fant can show they are better options to back up Ferguson going forward.
If Dallas were to cut Schoonmaker after June 1st he would have a Dead Cap value for 2025 of a little over $389,000. He would carry that same amount over to 2026 as well.
But by cutting him after June 1st, it would save the Cowboys a little over $1.3 million.
That fact should both keep him up at night and motivate him more out in Oxnard this summer.
We’ll see how it all plays out. But by no means should Schoonmaker feel he’s a lock on this roster.
Against The NFC East
Even without Schoonmaker, the Cowboys would still have the best tight end room in the NFC East.
The Eagles have Dallas Goedert, and not much else. The Commanders have Zach Ertz and not much else.
The Giants just don’t have much at all.
With a healthy Ferguson, a solid performance from Spann-Ford, and perhaps an out-of-nowhere effort from Fant the Cowboys have the division’s top unit, if not the entire NFC.
Would be nice to see the front office not stick to their past high draft pick scholarship philosophy. Meaning, to see the decision makers come to terms with admitting an overdraft 2nd round mistake. As the player who now serves as nothing more than a progress stopper in the TE room at this point.
The other guys are just as good or better.
I maintain they panicked when the TE run started and grabbed whoever was at the top of their list that was still available. Drafting a guy already three years older than other rookies, and with a foot injury, was foolish.
I’ll admit that I wasn’t all that happy when we drafted him in the 2nd round, but after Ferguson went down last year, Schoonmaker actually stepped up and played good football!! He caught almost everything that was thrown his way, and he made some good plays!! And for somebody that didn’t get much playing time when Ferguson was healthy, Schoonmaker played like he was always on the field!! I don’t see any scenario where he’s not on this team going forward!! Spann-Ford has been pretty good, but he’s just more of a blocking TE that will catch an occasional pass!! So I don’t think he’ll be the reason Schoonmaker don’t make the team!! Plus he was on the team last year behind Schoonmaker, so I don’t see how they both can’t be on the team together again this year!! And another thing is that Ferguson is going into his last year, so why would they cut Schoonmaker when they mite end up needing him if they can’t keep Ferguson!! And as far as the other 2 you named off, I don’t think either of them has showed enough to take Schoonmakers spot on the roster!! And I am a big fan of Fant, and I was hoping he would be able to make the 53 man roster, but he just hasn’t been good enough!! And John Stephens is a WR turned TE, so he’s just good at catching passes, but he can’t stay healthy, he hasn’t played really at all since he’s been with the Cowboys cause he keeps getting injured, and when you’ve been on a team for 2 or 3 years and haven’t been able to play cause your constantly injured, that’s not a way to take the place of another player who has actually played games and was good when he played!! So there’s no way Schoonmaker gets cut for Stephens!! So the way things have been going, the TE room will be the exact same as last year with Ferguson as TE1, Schoonmaker as the backup, and Spann-Ford as the blocking TE who will get a few targets here and there!! So to be clear, I don’t think Schoonmaker has anything to worry about!! I think he’ll be on this team until his contract runs out, and he mite even get an extension since we should be able to get him on another cheap deal!! That’s what I think about it!!