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- Mar 18, 2019
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Outside of his one-year hiatus to be a part of Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys have had a firmly entrenched starting star tight end in Jason Witten for the last 17 years.
While Witten’s production dipped somewhat in recent years, he had always been a dependable target for Drew Bledsoe, Tony Romo and Dak Prescott over that span of 16 seasons in a Cowboys uniform.
Blake Jarwin has been given the task of stepping into Witten’s starting role for Dallas this season. And Stephen Jones, the team’s executive vice president, is bullish on what Jarwin will be able to do for the Cowboys this year.
“I think Blake Jarwin has had an amazing camp,” Jones said during his regular radio appearance with 105.3 The Fan. “He’s right there top handful of all-time favorite Cowboys is Jason Witten. But it was hard to be a tight end in this organization when 82 was around. Certainly he’s getting to spread his wings now, whether it’s Coach (Mike) McCarthy, the offensive staff, his teammates, he keeps showing up out there. I don’t know how much you guys have been able to get out to see any of the practices. But he’s just — he’s really coming in to his own, and nothing would surprise me with him in terms of what his production could be this year. He just keeps getting better. His rapport with Dak is outstanding, and I really think he’s got a chance to step right in there and be a really good, if not great, tight end for us.”
Jarwin is set to enter his fourth seasons in Dallas and has appeared in all 32 games over the past two seasons for the team. He’s coming off career-highs last year with 31 receptions for 365 yards and three touchdowns while splitting time with Witten. Witten was still the predominantly used option, appearing on 75 percent of the team’s offensive snaps last year while Jarwin saw just under 39 percent, per Pro-Football-Reference.
Jarwin will get more snaps this season with Witten now with the Las Vegas Raiders. The Cowboys are hoping that increased role will lead to a sizable bump in production as well.