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Dallas Cowboys:Is Rico Gathers on track to make this roster?

By Carl Daley

LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 12: Rico Gathers #80 of the Dallas Cowboys catches a pass as Folarin Orimolade #56 of the Los Angeles Rams defends during the second half of a presason game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 12: Rico Gathers #80 of the Dallas Cowboys catches a pass as Folarin Orimolade #56 of the Los Angeles Rams defends during the second half of a presason game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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The Dallas Cowboys will have a big decision to make involving tight end Rico Gathers in the coming weeks. Will he make the roster?

The Dallas Cowboys have been looking for the successor to Jason Witten for only a couple of months but they thought they had something special in Rico Gathers. As of right now Gathers is a third string player on the Cowboys first official depth chart of the preseason. Can the former Baylor basketball star crack the 53 man roster?

Well, that is tough to say, Gathers has had a pretty mundane camp up until the last three or four days. He has not really done anything to stand out as the next sure thing at the tight end position but he has not done anything to holster any optimism that Dallas Cowboy fans have had for him. 

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The Dallas Cowboys expected Gathers to play a bigger role during the 2017 season however a concussion took him out of action before he could make an impact in any way. The 2018 offseason has been the first time Cowboy fans have seen Gathers since August of 2017 so there is a lot to take in.

A certain amount of rust had set in for the early days of OTA’s and the beginning of training camp but that seemingly is being knocked off with every passing day. Gathers has had his most impressive performances during training camp within the last week and is finally looking like the playmaker we once saw.

The main question here is can he stay healthy enough to have a chance at making the main roster. Gathers would need to be pretty productive to surpass any of the other players currently at the tight end position.

Originally it seemed as if Dallas planned on using four tight ends to fill in for Witten as each one of them are good at something different. Take Dalton Schultz, he is one of the better blocking tight ends on the roster.

Now sure he is still a rookie but he should be able to fill that void left by Witten and James Hanna in terms of blocking talent. Blake Jarwin is supposed to be the more offensively minded player as his talents are getting open and finding separation. He should see the most targets during the offseason as he is primarily utilized as a weapon in the passing game.

Geoff Swaim is the veteran at the position as he at least has caught a pass in the NFL and has had some production. Swaim should have a leg up on everyone else as he can both block and receive fairly well. He also could be the most consistent tight end on the roster.

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Where Gathers fits into this group is seemingly up to him and his level of play offensively. If he can manage to make a big impact during these preseason contests, he could have a spot on the game day roster.

  • Published on 08/08/2018 at 23:43 PM
  • Last updated at 08/08/2018 at 23:43 PM
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