Dallas Cowboys: Assessing the ceiling for Rico Gathers in 2017

The Dallas Cowboys saw tight end Rico Gathers light it up in their first preseason game prompting many of us to reassess what his ceiling might be in 2017.

The Dallas Cowboys love to take calculated risks on long-shot players with high-end potential. Second year tight end, Rico Gathers, is a perfect example of that. Drafted from Baylor in the sixth round of the 2016 draft, Gathers shows all the physical traits teams covet at tight end.

The 6’6” 290lb former basketball player has strength, agility, and speed to package with a pretty impressive vertical. The only problem is before joining the Cowboys he hadn’t played football since middle school. The leap to the NFL was enormous to say the least but the potential payoff could be equally as enormous. That payoff is likely what prompted the Dallas Cowboys to guarantee his paycheck during his rookie season on the practice squad and also what caused so many fans to make him their “pet cat” sight unseen.

The Playmaker

After catching three balls for 59 yards and one impressive touchdown, Rico Gathers gave Cowboys Nation a tangible reason to be excited. He showed field awareness on his routes, he showed athleticism in his receptions, and he showed game breaking ability with the ball in his hands. It was impressive enough to guarantee a roster spot come what September.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, of course. His blocking left something to be desired. He not only looked to be lacking in execution, but he looked completely disinterested at times. Considering most of the responsibilities of a backup tight end involve blocking ability, this is a pretty big job responsibility to improve.

Fellow tight ends, Jason Witten, Geoff Swaim, and James Hanna, are so far ahead of him in blocking ability, it’s not even an argument worth having at this point. But you can’t minimize the value of being a playmaker and Rico Gathers, my friends, is a playmaker.

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What’s the Ceiling?

The Dallas Cowboys will find a way to get him on the field this season and as long as he shows steady improvement in his blocking, his snaps will increase. How many snaps he gets depends on how many tight ends the Dallas Cowboys keep this season and where exactly Rico falls on the depth chart.

It’s safe to say Jason Witten is firmly entrenched at the top of the pecking order. The 15-year vet logged more snaps than any other tight end in the entire NFL last season. He’s a blocker as well as a receiver. He’s reliable in every way and plays virtually every offensive snap.

As such, the absolute ceiling for any tight end on the roster (barring injury) this season is TE2. How many snaps can the Dallas Cowboys TE2 expect to get in 2017? Last week we discussed just that when we compered snap counts for the WR4 to the TE2 in 2016. If history is any indicator we can expect a similar amount of “12” personnel groups ( two tight ends on the field together) in 2017.

Last season injuries mucked up the snap count for the Cowboys TE2. But if we project the snap count that Geoff Swaim was accruing pre-injury, over the course of the season, we can get an idea what the ceiling is for a TE2.

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Since Swaim was averaging 24.5 snaps per game before injury, we can responsibly project he would have logged 392 snaps. Keep in mind, this would be to serve in the traditional TE2 role.

But Rico Gathers is not typical, so expecting him to seamlessly slide into that TE2 role in Dallas’ 12 personnel package, would be misguided.

Additionally, with Cole Beasley’s development at slot receiver and the Dallas Cowboys attraction to playing him as often as possible in the “11” personnel group (60% of the time according to football outsiders), one can safely assume the Cowboys will not be expanding the role of TE2 this season.

Predicting Rico’s Ceiling

Rico Gathers’ career ceiling remains becoming the heir to Jason Witten as the TE1. This season, we can expect something much different than traditional depth chart ranking. It’s very likely Rico Gathers does not supplant Hanna and/or Swaim on the depth chart, yet avoids being stuck behind them also.

Gathers is such a mismatch in the passing game the Cowboys will need to find a way to get him on the field to take advantage of his playmaking ability. In other words, he’s going to take a bite out of multiple players’ snaps.

At the end of the day, Rico Gathers’ 2017 snap count will probably be below that of the projected snap count of 392. But his potential impact could be significant if he can avoid being a liability in the blocking game.

Next: Will Cole Beasley replace Jason Witten as offensive safety valve?

Note: Preseason is a time where defensive coordinators employ a disproportionate amount of man coverage. Coverage is rarely disguised which is considerably different from the regular season. It’s important Rico Gathers prove he can navigate a zone defense and move through traffic unimpeded before we go all-in on his 2017 projection. But that’s just another thing for us football lovers to watch in coming weeks.

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