The Cowboys rolled the dice at the TE position this season. Instead of retaining five-year veteran Dalton Schultz another season, they decided to turn the page on their Stanford product. Their rookie fourth round pick, Jake Ferguson, had impressed in limited action and looked like he had all the makings of a top-line NFL tight end.
Peyton Hendershot, another 2022 rookie, also impressed in limited action. He didn’t have the blocking ability Ferguson did but he flashed impressive play-making traits with the ball in his hands. He looked like he could be a dangerous weapon as a TE3 and possibly more.
While optimism towards the two young TEs reigned supreme, their future was still based on projections and not reality. Ferguson only played 430 snaps as a rookie and Hendershot just 298. Both showed pass-catching ability but neither one logged more than 19 receptions or 174 yards over the season.
Banking on the second-year players to pick up where Schultz left off was a risky proposition, which is why the Cowboys likely targeted the position where they did in the 2023 NFL draft.
With the No. 58 pick in the draft, the Cowboys selected Luke Schoonmaker from the University of Michigan. It was a high pick for the position and received a fair amount of scrutiny at the time. Especially since the 2023 draft was seen to be abnormally deep in TE talent.
But Dallas saw a need and made their pick. The upcoming season was too important to leave in the hands of a pair of unproven second-year players with little draft pedigree. Schoonmaker’s presence stabilized the unit.
How is it all panning out?