Introducing the Dallas Cowboys invisible man

As the speculation on draft needs circle and free agency continues, few fans of the Dallas Cowboys remember this late round choice from last season.

At 6’6″ and 281 pounds, it’s almost impossible to go unnoticed. When you play for the Dallas Cowboys, arguably the most notorious team in the NFL, it’s even harder.

Yet during all the discussions centering around draft needs and free agent additions, it seems everyone is doing just that.

For whatever reason, there are a lot of people who honestly believe that tight end is a high-level need for the Dallas Cowboys.

Forget that future Hall of Famer Jason Witten has not missed a game since 2004. Never mind that he has put up 60+ catches and 650+ yards for thirteen consecutive years. It’s completely fair to expect that Witten continues these streaks next season. In fact, you can almost put it down in the books with a Sharpie.

Behind him are two guys coming off completely different injuries.

Second year man Geoff Swaim saw his 2016 season end after suffering a torn pectoral muscle. Unfortunately, he had to have a separate surgery to insert a screw into his foot due to an injury suffered while working out.

The bad news is that he will likely miss all of the organized team activities leading up to training camp. The good news, the pectoral muscle gets more time to heal and he’ll be ready for camp.

Meanwhile, James Hanna missed all of last season with a bone bruise to his knee. Hanna could stick around for depth and experience. He might also be a candidate for a post June 1 cut to save the Cowboys some money.

Doing the latter would save the Dallas Cowboys $2.25M towards the cap which they could use to sign a few of their draft selections. It would only add $750K in dead money towards this year’s cap and the next as well.

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Keeping Hanna would signal that his surgery finally fixed whatever issue was besting him. Remember that it wasn’t long ago that this team though so highly of Hanna that they gave him a 3 year, $8.25M deal.

Regardless, the Dallas Cowboys have an invisible man waiting in the wings who may finally be the successor to Witten.

Allow me to introduce you to Rico Gathers.

Gathers, a late sixth round pick last year, has not played organized football since high school. Instead, he spent his college years as a Big 12 All-Defensive selection as a power forward for the Baylor Bears basketball team.

Now, before you go thinking that I’ve lost my mind, remember that this is the same career arc of Chargers tight end Antonio Gates.

Gates never played a down in college either, while starring as a power forward for the Kent State basketball team. He has since went on to post some of the most impressive numbers of any tight end in the history of the NFL.

Other tight ends such as Tony Gonzalez, Jimmy Graham and Julius Thomas also primarily played hoops in college. All of done well for themselves in the NFL.

Gathers also had an entire year last season to “redshirt” and learn the game at the NFL level. As the season neared its end, his improvement began to show. Stories began to leak that he was unstoppable in practice while working with quarterback Tony Romo.

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Now with Swaim missing OTA’s and Hanna’s availability unknown, Gathers could earn extra time to hone his craft. Doing so under one of the best to ever play will not stunt his growth either.

It will not be surprising if Rico Gathers becomes a bigger name this year. After all, with that size, you can only stay invisible for so long.

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