What happened to TE being a priority?

PJTHEDOORS

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The thing is, we've got four bodies at TE. It's not about just adding a TE, it's about adding a starting caliber one. We don't need any more mediocre players at the position.

Jarwin late in the season was on page with Dak and showed he can move the chains. Shultz showed some promise in the few touches he had. Well know more about the growth they've made in camp.
 

kskboys

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I guess having a 72 year old Witten un-retiring filled that need? They didn't even bring in an UDFA TE. Oh yeah and the baseball player...guess we are good there...
Who said it was?
 

TheMarathonContinues

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Why people continue to think that this franchise creates clever deliberate ruses to disguise their draft plans is beyond me.
I wasn’t aware that was clever lol. I thought it was drafting 101 to not leak out the players you are trying to draft.
 

Knotamus

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Wow. You guys are still at it.. lol, looks like TE is as much or more controversial than the Safety position.
Welp, nothing I say is going to change anyone else’s mind I’m sure, but I will add my perspective.

Geoff Swaim became the de facto leader of the bunch last year after the surprise retirements of both Hanna and Witten. He was the veteran and received the early season snaps, before going down with yet another injury. The coaches obviously trusted him to carry out his assignments more than Jarwin, Shultz, and (cough) Rico, exp the blocking assignments. Swaim is what he is at this point.. a career backup TE. He’s a Jag now, kinda fitting.

Jarwin essentially was a rookie since he was on the practice squad a year before. That made Shultz and Jarwin behind the eightball to start the season as both were playing their first season. When Swaim went down and the coaches actually started playing the young guys.. they were productive and flashed real ability. Nate Newton is always preaching that the young guys have got to get on the field to learn the nuances of the game and I couldn’t agree more.

Whether folks realize it or not, there are only a handful of elite TEs in the league. As a matter of fact, only three TEs went over 1k yards last year.. Kelce, Ertz, and Kittle. And all three are basically the focal point of the offense. After them, it’s a significant drop in production.
http://www.nfl.com/stats/categoryst...Category=TIGHT_END&season=2018&seasonType=REG

The fact is, the TE position typically takes time to develop. Just go look at the first couple seasons of the aforementioned above. All the angsts about not drafting a TE when we don’t even know what Jarwin or Shultz can be is lunacy, exp since our young TEs barely played the first half of the season. After Swaim went down, Jarwin actually was able get on the field and build chemistry with Dak.. and it really showed the last game of the season when Jarwin scored 3TDs against the Giants. Likewise, I believe an offseason will help Schultz tremendously to be more prepared year 2. We might just have what some are whining ab on the roster already. (It’s funny, I remember saying the same thing ab DeMarcus Lawrence a few years back when folks were crying for a ‘War Daddy’)

Take a look at the snaps per game allotment in the link below, it shows Jarwin was very productive and didn’t miss much when he was giving the chance.
https://subscribers.footballguys.com/teams/teampage-dal-6.php

http://www.espn.com/nfl/player/gamelog/_/id/2991767/blake-jarwin

Jarwin finished the season with a encouraging stat line based on the amount of snaps received:

27 catches- 307yd- 11.4 avg- 3tds

Thank god we didn’t have fans wanting to cut the goat Witten after his first full season stat line.

35 catches- 347yd- 9.9 avg- 1tds
 
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armadillooutlaw

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Schultz, Jarwin and Witten are decent.
Unless there was one that was a terror attacking the seam then I wouldn't be that worried about TE, honestly.
It's one of those spots you can do well with *decent*.
 
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FuzzyLumpkins

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What are you guys expecting from Witten, honestly? When he retired most around here applauded his amazing career, but were ready to show him the door. His skills had declined to the point that he was a minus blocker and could no longer get separation--which is what he built his Hall of Fame career on.

Witten coming back is like putting a bandaid on a broken arm. My sole hope is that if he really is done, and looks like he did in his last season, they don't try to force him the ball, or take away playing time from guys hungry with upside like Jarwin and Schultz.

i cannot speak for anyone else but i had no issue with Witten on the roster. I did have issue with him taking every single snap.

We will have to see where he is physically but it is easier to produce from snap to snap for older players when they are rested during the game as opposed to having to pace themselves over the full 60-70 snaps.

And broken arm? That is a bit overdramatic IMO. NFL TE talent is not very robust.
 

AbeBeta

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And it moves from "how dumb is our FO for telling everyone TE is a priority?!?!!!" To "why didn't we draft a TE?!?!!!"
 

texbumthelife

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i cannot speak for anyone else but i had no issue with Witten on the roster. I did have issue with him taking every single snap.

We will have to see where he is physically but it is easier to produce from snap to snap for older players when they are rested during the game as opposed to having to pace themselves over the full 60-70 snaps.

And broken arm? That is a bit overdramatic IMO. NFL TE talent is not very robust.

It's not like I said a bandaid over a punctured heart...
 

DandyDon52

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I guess having a 72 year old Witten un-retiring filled that need? They didn't even bring in an UDFA TE. Oh yeah and the baseball player...guess we are good there...
well for one thing, you should be glad, garrett has no clue how to properly use TE's , so getting a good one might not
get the results that you would see with other teams.
The way dallas uses TE's what they have is plenty ok.
even with romo witten was usually checkdown charlie, with the occasional seam pass.
Find the open spot sit, and wait for the pass lol.
 

CWR

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I guess having a 72 year old Witten un-retiring filled that need? They didn't even bring in an UDFA TE. Oh yeah and the baseball player...guess we are good there...

Pretty sure they figured Witten would bridge the gap and hoped Jarwin or Schultz would step up. They did just commit a 4th round pick to Schultz right? I would've been excited to get a stud TE early but am happier we got a DT.
 

GimmeTheBall!

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I guess having a 72 year old Witten un-retiring filled that need? They didn't even bring in an UDFA TE. Oh yeah and the baseball player...guess we are good there...
It baffles the mind.
Once again, Jerry's heart is bigger than his brain.
 

cowboyfan4lyfe

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While many were disappointed that a safety wasn't drafted in the 2019. Have you noticed that A TE wasn't picked in the draft either. Yes Witten came back, but we all know he doesn't have the speed to get down the field. But something else that is bigger hasn't been discussed. Rico Gathers is still on the roster. I think this is by design. Could it be Rico was held back by Linehan and Moore sees value in his abilities. If this is true the draft class of 2016 has lost only one member.....
 

PJTHEDOORS

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While many were disappointed that a safety wasn't drafted in the 2019. Have you noticed that A TE wasn't picked in the draft either. Yes Witten came back, but we all know he doesn't have the speed to get down the field. But something else that is bigger hasn't been discussed. Rico Gathers is still on the roster. I think this is by design. Could it be Rico was held back by Linehan and Moore sees value in his abilities. If this is true the draft class of 2016 has lost only one member.....

Watch he in camp plays lights out, yet Garrett won't bench Witten. Just hope Wiiten is in for 3rd down snaps only (Dak trusts him). Rico for redzone snaps (if he's made the roster).
 

JoeKing

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I guess having a 72 year old Witten un-retiring filled that need? They didn't even bring in an UDFA TE. Oh yeah and the baseball player...guess we are good there...
Since you want to characterize a 36-year-old man(will be 37 on May 6th) as a "72 year old", how do you expect people to take your complaint seriously? If you want to complain, then stop hurting your credibility with such exaggerations? Or is your complaint so weak that you have to do that?
 

Bullflop

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i cannot speak for anyone else but i had no issue with Witten on the roster. I did have issue with him taking every single snap.

We will have to see where he is physically but it is easier to produce from snap to snap for older players when they are rested during the game as opposed to having to pace themselves over the full 60-70 snaps.

And broken arm? That is a bit overdramatic IMO. NFL TE talent is not very robust.

Good point about Witten's history of staying in for his lion's share of the snaps and the staff leaning on him so heavily. It's really my hope that the offensive staff will see fit to distribute the reps more fittingly to accommodate other guys like Jarwin and Schultz. Of course, that's in hopes that their development might continue as it had last season. I think it might be pretty helpful if that were to become a reality.
 
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visionary

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I wasn’t aware that was clever lol. I thought it was drafting 101 to not leak out the players you are trying to draft.

Yes it is drafting 101 to not let info leak

This FO is so inept the beat writers were reporting that was going to be out pick days before the draft and then the Friday morning of rds 2/3
 

TheMarathonContinues

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Yes it is drafting 101 to not let info leak

This FO is so inept the beat writers were reporting that was going to be out pick days before the draft and then the Friday morning of rds 2/3
I heard he could’ve been ONE of the picks and that they liked a few guys there.
 

Melonfeud

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Good point about Witten's history of staying in for his lion's share of the snaps and the staff leaning on him so heavily. It's really my hope that the offensive staff will see fit to distribute the reps more fittingly to accommodate other guys like Jarwin and Schultz. Of course, that's in hopes that their development might continue as it had last season. I think it might be pretty helpful if that were to become a reality.
Ya, ol' Coach flat out yarded the #89 off the field& onto the bench for awhile, in that on-sides kick recovery he'd flubbed,,,bet $1 dollar to any&all Blake will be locked&zeroed in on the ball for the rest of his football career in that type of situation of gameplay,,,,:lmao2:,,,from that day forward:starspin:
 
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