Dalton Schultz or Blake Jarwin?
For years, the tight end job in Dallas was as cemented as it could be with Jason Witten holding down the fort for 16 years. Since his departure, it’s been a bit of a revolving door at the position.
In 2018, UDFA Blake Jarwin started his climb to the TE1 position, showcasing impressive receiving skills in all areas of the field. For a player with minimal expectations, Jarwin was quickly loved by many due to the athletic traits he brought to the passing game that had been lacking for sometime. Jarwin, while eventually receiving a nice contract extension and starting opportunities, never quite ran with the job many predicted he would given the athleticism and size he offers as a receiver at the position. Nonetheless, he was still the most qualified for that position heading into the 2020 season, after a nice 2019 season.
Unfortunately for Jarwin and the Cowboys, he saw action in only one game after tearing his ACL in week one of the 2020 season against the Rams. In the year that many thought Jarwin could break out into a borderline top 10 TE in the NFL, he spent it recovering from injury.
With Jarwin out, third-year TE Dalton Schultz finally got an opportunity to show what he had to offer after being buried on the depth chart. He was primarily being used as a blocking TE for years after being drafted by the Cowboys in the fourth-round of the 2018 NFL Draft. After a bit of a bumpy start, Schultz started to put up the numbers that many saw Jarwin having in Kellen Moore’s aggressive offense, but the thing that stood out the most with Schultz is he was doing more, with less. Schultz put up an impressive 63 reception, 615 yard, four touchdown season as the Cowboys TE1 with Jarwin sidelined, and he did so with a revolving door at quarterback. Schultz finished 11th in receiving yards, sixth in receptions, and tied for seventh in receiving touchdowns out of all eligible tight ends in the NFL.
With Jarwin back in the fold in camp, it’s still Dalton Schultz who has been receiving most of the hype coming out of Oxnard in the early stages of camp. While there may not be a true TE1 in Dallas, fans and the front office should feel pretty good about the team having two quality tight ends to carry the load going into 2021. While both can still improve in the blocking game, both Jarwin and Schultz can be an exciting tight end tandem for the Cowboys, and continue to produce in one of the best offenses in the National Football League. Fans will want to know who exactly is labeled as TE1 in Dallas, it may be more of a week-to-week role, and that’s not totally a bad thing.
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