Why the Dallas Cowboys still need to draft a Tight End

Jason Witten is back with the America’s Team for the 2019 season but the Dallas Cowboys should still feel the need to draft a tight end.

It was announced earlier this week that tight end Jason Witten would be returning to the NFL to play for the Dallas Cowboys. Witten will be taking up a $3.5 million salary cap hit for this upcoming season.

Dallas now has three tight ends that will likely see good playing time this year. Those being Witten himself as well as second-year player Dalton Schultz and Blake Jarwin. Even with those three, the Cowboys still have a major hole at the position.

Witten was really, really bad in 2017. Only hauling in 560 yards and five touchdowns, it was undoubtedly the worst season of his 15-year career. Despite that, Schultz and Jarwin were not much better in 2018 hauling in less than 500 yards and five touchdowns combined.

So yes, the Cowboys still have a huge hole at tight end. Especially since I doubt Witten, who has spent more than a year from actually playing, will be better than he was in 2017. That is why I think they should draft a tight end in April. Dallas is lucky because this year’s draft class has six to seven tight ends expected to go in the top 100. So the class is loaded.

I also am opposed to signing a veteran tight end in free agency and would rather draft. Drafting one would get you a cheaper deal and the only real tight end there seems to be mutual interest is Tyler Eifert, who hasn’t played more than 10 games in three years due to injury. That also doesn’t really help you for the future, as he’s already 28-years old.

I believe Witten coming back would even more so promote drafting a tight end early, so they can learn under his tutelage along with the other tight ends on the roster. While I think it’s nice to have him back in the building, I personally don’t think it provides any true value to the team, unless you draft a highly touted tight end prospect.

When you also think about it, $3.5 million is a decent-sized cap hit in the NFL. That could be the difference between a typical starting free agent to a quality one. But instead, it’s being allocated to basically another coach. Except he’s on the player’s payroll.

All in all, Jason Witten really provides no true value other than being a bridge to a better player. It’d be a heartfelt story to win a Super Bowl with him on the roster, but there’s a good argument having him might hurt those chances rather than making them better. Even with Witten on the roster, tight end is absolutely still a position that needs to be addressed in the upcoming draft.