WE should sign Murray as a back up

[CowboysExchange]

He's not the main receiving cog, if by that you mean he's the focus of the offense, seems that way because he gets thrown to quite a bit, but it's not true. In 2016 his main job was to stay in and block, hence Zeke's NFL rushing title, and Beasley was the leading receiver. In 2014 he did the same for Murray. In 2017 he had the lowest reception numbers since his rookie year, and then some people complained about his low numbers, "evidence" that he should be let go.

The reason he gets the attention is because he's nearly always open, he gets the passes because there's nobody else open, not because he is the focus of the offense. Which would you rather have, Dak throwing for 5 yards before a punt, of Dak throwing an interception because he's forcing a throw to a covered receiver, or throwing it away and having to punt 5 more yards to make up the lost yardage?

Most NFL teams would kill for a tight end who never misses a game, who is annually in the top of the percentage of receptions vs. targets and is a security blanket for a young quarterback.

You're looking at Witten the wrong way, we should be grateful for having him....

I'm not looking at him the wrong way. He has no deep ball capabilities, no yacs, and very little red zone capabilities and needs to be splitting time on the majority of those passing snaps. I praise JW for his character, and his blocking is decent but not playoff caliber. The problem is he never comes off the field. Not only does is water down his effectiveness but it keeps our other slot receivers and tes from playing. Every formation is vanilla because he's going to be out there on every single play in the defense knows it. The NFL has evolved. There is other tes out there that has similar skillsets as JW but they don't play 1/2 the Snaps. If he got cut by the Cowboys he would not get the money or play 100% of the snapcounts if he even got picked up. There's better personnel packages than playing 82 on 100 percent of the snaps. Hes not drawing any coverage away from the other receivers. And just slows our passing offense down. He's not a game changer as a receiver. He's just catching a bunch of rinky-dink give me passes that the defense lets him have. Hes Way overutilized as a receiver. It's not that he doesn't have skills he's just not a complete receiver. I can name 15 tes that have better production as a receiver on less snaps. A main cog as a receiver if someone who plays every single passing snap. He has very little impact on our passing game whatsoever just about anybody could put up the numbers that he has playing every single passing snap. How detriment was is 3 plays over 20 yards last year. Which game did he step up and dominate? Against the Giants and Washington? He's done. He should been cut 5 years ago. And all those do-or-die situations with Tony that's all they did was throwing 3-yard passes when they needed 10 just to pad his stats and sell groceries. He may be a leader in the Locking room but it's not by production any more hasn't been for quite some time. It's not that he seems like he's a man called he plays every single snap count so he is the main COG

 

[LACowboysFan1]

He has no deep ball capabilities, no yacs, and very little red zone capabilities

So you're saying we need a better tight end, right?
And the supposition is that Dallas keeps Witten because "sentimental" reasons, but I would submit that Witten fills the role the Cowboys want from the tight end position, they aren't going to utilize a fast, td-machine tight end in their offense, even if they had one...

 

[CowboysExchange]

So you're saying we need a better tight end, right?
And the supposition is that Dallas keeps Witten because "sentimental" reasons, but I would submit that Witten fills the role the Cowboys want from the tight end position, they aren't going to utilize a fast, td-machine tight end in their offense, even if they had one...

I know. The Cowboys will use him on Every Passing Play and won't win any playoff games as usual if he plays every snap. He is the Vanilla in the Cowboys offense . It's his presence on the field that spells all of our passing plays. He'd be a decent Tight End if he was spot played. The problem is he is overplayed in situations where he has no skills to get it done. Sure he has a few TD's a year when we play sorry teams in our division. Lol. But he's not an every down player and never was because he's not a complete receiver. As long as he's not producing and scoring as a receiver we'll never be able to win Beans. Any tight end in the NFL could put up better numbers as a receiver playing every snap!!! If our philosophy is to squander opportunities to use better qualified slot receivers and tes for scoring opportunities and big plays just so he can play every down then he's doing a great job If the whole core of Tes score 10 TD's this year I will shut my mouth. Yeah it's going to be like every other year where the receivers and the running backs in the quarterbacks have to make up from that lost scoring production from the tight ends. Every team that's relevant in the NFL has tight ends that substitute with other tes and slot wrs. Everybody is griping about Dez lack of speed and separation but even if he did return to the Dez of 2014 this year he's still gonna get stuck out on the field w Jw and he's gonna get blanketed like he did then and it's gonna be the same losing philosophy of not playing situational football. Just do the same stuff that hasn't worked for 15 years.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

The problem is he is overplayed in situations where he has no skills to get it done.

No doubt, and that's on the coaches. Rob Gronkowski could show up and ask to play for Dallas for the veteran minimum and he'd catch 50 passes for 400 yards and 4 tds

 

[CowboysExchange]

No doubt, and that's on the coaches. Rob Gronkowski could show up and ask to play for Dallas for the veteran minimum and he'd catch 50 passes for 400 yards and 4 tds

Yeah maybe if he was triple teamed on every play I don't think he'd produce less than 10 TD's in a year even if he was. He's the most dominating scoring threat in the league. Could you imagine the scoring records if he was healthy? Imagine if Gronk was here in 2014 when Dez was in his prime and we had a running game. Murray would have picked up 2-300 more yards w Gronks Blocking .

 

[LACowboysFan1]

But he's not been, for the Witten critics, he's missed 1 game in 15 years...

 

[CowboysExchange]

But he's not been, for the Witten critics, he's missed 1 game in 15 years...

Too bad he has nothing to show for all those years of playing every snap. Except that one highlight reel of him running without a helmet and a chokefest playoff game against Detroit. Lol. Just one big vanilla formation for 15 years and hundreds of passes caught for 3 yards on 3rd and 10 I watch the first game every year and when they start guys like Witten and James Hannah on every snap I go back to listening on the Radio. They're just going to Blitz cuz teams know even if he catches the ball he's not going to get any yacs or hit his head on the goal post. All the good teams have faster deep threat tight ends and possession wrs who have some ability to score and make big plays. It's too bad his his longevity of playing every passing snap has survived this long. Now it's time to play situational football w him because Garrett's Job is on the line and #82's production between the 20's doesn't outweigh the lack of scoring and big play production this team needs in order to compete at a playoff level. He's not getting us to the playoffs with three receptions over 20 yards and a few TDS.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

hundreds of passes caught for 3 yards on 3rd and 10

Not necessary to exaggerate to make your point. He's averaged over 10 yards a reception for his career.you can't get over a first down per catch average catching "hundreds of 3 yard passes"

Now you're just turning into a hater...

 

[CowboysExchange]

Not necessary to exaggerate to make your point. He's averaged over 10 yards a reception for his career.you can't get over a first down per catch average catching "hundreds of 3 yard passes"

Now you're just turning into a hater...

No the 3 yard passes are consistent when Romo was here during all those 8-8 seasons. Lol. I don't hate Jw. I've gone on record saying that he's a decent te esp blocking. But he's never been a stud receiver. Just a possession guy. My only complaint is that he isn't a great deep threat, yac, or Red Zone receiver who can draw coverage away from anybody and score consistently enough to warrant every passing snapcount. I think he's been Great but never have I believed that he's an Every down guy! I don't care if they put Calvin Ridley on one side and courtland Sutton on the other .As long as the big slow giraffe is gonna be lined up on the field doing the same thing in the same 15 year formation without disguising the plays then they ain't gonna win Beans. There is a reason why teams have evolved to using more Athletic slot receivers and deep threat and red zone Tes situationally but the Cowboys just pick a player assign him a position and expect him to win running the same low % Passing formations . Do you honesly think he's gonna get more than 3-4 TD's and 3-4 plays over 20 yards next year. I just can't believe they would cut the best receiver on the team while designated Blocking receivers like Williams, our whole te core, our 2nd and 3rd rbs, fbs who have never done squat are still drawing a paycheck. Dez Scored more tds in his tenure then all of them combined together I'm sure. Yes he was being overpaid for his production. But he's still a playmaker whom in a system that will utilize his actual abilities versus just leaving him outside in the same 15 yr old formations.