Dallas Cowboys position battle: Will Ryan Switzer take over return duties?
The Dallas Cowboys’ selection of North Carolina receiver Ryan Switzer doesn’t bode well for incumbent return man Lucky Whitehead.
The 2016 season was to be a breakout one for Dallas Cowboys‘ return man and wide receiver, Lucky Whitehead. It certainly seemed that way 13 seconds into the first preseason game as he returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. However, as the season unfolded the Cowboys’ confidence in Whitehead waned.
The worst place for a player to be in is in their coach’s dog house. It’s usually signals frustration with a player due to poor performance or an off the field incident. In Whitehead’s case, it may have been both.
If you can go back to Dallas’ late season loss to the New York Giants, you might remember Whitehead not playing. He was suspended by head coach Jason Garrett for going AWOL the Saturday before the team flight to New York. The situation was worrisome for the Cowboys as they even enlisted the help of local law enforcement to help find the player. For full details you can read Scout.com’s original report by Mike Fisher here.
If you couple this incident with the facts Whitehead had three fumbles last season, didn’t score a touchdown, and only caught three passes as a receiver, you can see that his job security wasn’t that high coming into the 2017 NFL Draft.
I must admit, I was floored when Dallas drafted North Carolina receiver Ryan Switzer in the fourth round. I didn’t foresee them taking a receiver that early, especially after resigning Terrence Williams and Brice Butler. But as I thought it over it began to make sense.
Switzer is a shifty player with the ability to make defenders miss with subtle movements. A skill he developed from playing running back in high school. He is the Tar Heels’ all time leader in receptions and is tied for third place in career punt return touchdowns in NCAA history, with seven.
What makes his return stats even more impressive, is he scored that many touchdowns while his number of returns decreased in both his junior and senior seasons. The decrease in returns was due to his growing importance in the offense where he caught 96 passes as a senior.
With the depth chart stacked at receiver, it would give Switzer the opportunity to move back to returner full-time. If he is able to translate his return skills to the NFL, he will certainly pose a stiff challenge to Whitehead for the starting job.
Whitehead will have to clearly out perform Switzer to keep his job in 2017. With the later being a fourth round selection and an accomplished receiver and route runner, you can safely assume his spot on the roster is safe.
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The pressure will be on Whitehead going into training camp and he will have to be at the top of his game to avoid becoming a roster causality. Regardless of who is named the starter, you can expect it to be one of the more competitive position battles this summer.