Cowboys: Blake Jarwin is the tight end we should be watching

With the sudden retirement of Jason Witten, everyone around Cowboys Nation is searching for a solution at tight end. Here’s who we should really be watching…

It turns out, the Dallas Cowboys made a splash over draft weekend after all. No, it wasn’t a blockbuster trade or a controversial pick that made headlines. Rather, it was the possible retirement of surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer, Jason Witten.

Sans Witten, the Cowboys tight end depth chart looks disturbingly pedestrian. In a group headlined by such names as Geoff Swaim, Blake Jarwin, Rico Gathers, and Dalton Schultz many would be hard-pressed to find a TE2, let alone a legitimate TE1.

Dalton Schultz

I have to admit, it’s been an interesting exercise going through these relatively unknown commodities over this past week. With Dalton Schultz being the highest drafted player of the bunch, many are penciling him as the starting tight end in 2018. After all, he’s a well-rounded player coming from a system (Stanford) that consistently churns out NFL tight ends.

The problem is he lacks the flash and upside that we all yearn for. He may be the best bet to win the starting job but’s far from being “the guy to watch”.

Rico Gathers

When you talk about flash and upside at the tight end position, you talk about Rico Gathers. Gathers, the converted basketball player, has the kind of athleticism and top-end potential that make you dream impossible dreams. The only problem is he doesn’t know how to football.

Rico still possesses the best upside of the bunch but he’s done next to nothing and is still a major long-shot.

Geoff Swaim

Then we have Geoff Swaim, the OG of the bunch. As the only option with actual NFL game experience (172 snaps last season), he’s the fallback option should the other two fail to live up to the hype.

But the man we’re forgetting. The man the Cowboys keep mentioning may have the best shot of all. That man is Blake Jarwin.

Blake Jarwin

Every time we broach the tight end subject to the Dallas brass, Jarwin’s name gets thrown into the conversation. Not by the media, mind you, but by the Cowboys themselves. While Blake Jarwin may be the forgotten man in Cowboys Nation, he’s far from forgotten to the Cowboys themselves.

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Blake Jarwin is a player worth knowing this preseason. The former Oklahoma State do-it-all tight-end/full-back combo came to the Cowboys last year as an UDFA. With Oklahoma State he played on the line, spread out, and in the backfield. He regularly pass-blocked, run-blocked, and occasionally caught some balls.

He came to Dallas stuffed deep down the depth chart behind the likes of Witten, James Hanna, Swaim, and Gathers. It was no surprise he didn’t make the final 53-man roster in Week 1.

But throughout the season, Jarwin showed something. His route-running and blocking started to get come on – enough so that Dallas’ higher-ups took note. So when the Philadelphia Eagles started sniffing around, the Cowboys didn’t hesitate in protecting their asset by adding Blake Jarwin to their roster. The move spoke volumes. Dallas, competing for a playoff spot, were already three-deep at TE. The last thing they could afford to do was “waste” a roster spot on developmental player like Jarwin. But they did.

The interesting thing to note is the shift in the Cowboys philosophy as of late. Gone are the dynamic but unpredictable route-runners Dez Bryant and Ryan Switzer. In are the route-running specialists Michael Gallup, Allen Hurns, and Cedric Wilson. While the change is admittedly less exciting than it was before, it shows their commitment to give Dak Prescott reliable targets in the passing game.

Blake Jarwin may be less exciting than someone like Rico Gathers but he sounds like he’s the more reliable and consistent performer of the two. And since we have no idea what we have in Schultz, and Swaim is likely a TE2 at best, Jarwin will be given every opportunity to shine this preseason.

At this point it’s all massive speculation since we have seen little-to-nothing of these players. But it’s clear the Cowboys themselves are steering us in the direction of Blake Jarwin as the man to watch.

Next: How the Eagles only trolled themselves during the NFL Draft

As for me, I’ll keep dreaming dreams of what “could be” with Rico Gathers. His potential is too great not to fantasize about. But it’s Blake Jarwin who I’ll be watching closely these next few months because he’s the perfect mix of all things tight end.