Here’s the latest status for the Cowboys’ Jake Ferguson for Week 14 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Dallas Cowboys have been suffering from the injury bug all season, and there hasn’t been a position group that has been safe. Just when the passing offense was finally getting WR2 Brandin Cooks back, they lost a different key member of the receiving corps.
TE Jake Ferguson has been sidelined the last two weeks with concussion symptoms. He opened up about the severity recently, citing that his mental state was so impacted he once broke out in a crying fit over the simple inconvenience of being unable to locate his mobile phone. With that level of severity, there’s a question on whether or not he’d be ready to face the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 14.
Fortunately, the answer is yes. Ferguson practiced all week and with no setbacks, he will suit up for the Cowboys on Monday Night Football. The two games he missed were on short weeks; he was injured in a Monday night game against Houston, and then missed the Washington game six days later which was followed by the Giants game just four days after that.
In his absence Dallas turned to second-year, second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker, along with 2024 UDFA Brevyn Spann-Ford. The team has also added Princeton Fant to the roster, signed from their own practice squad. It is assumed with Ferguson active again, Fant will be among the inactive on Monday.
Brevyn Spann-Ford is the Cowboys’ best blocking TE who has the potential to be elite in the future, finds @ReidDHanson.
The Dallas Cowboys are masters in finding steals through nontraditional avenues. From Brandin Aubrey and KaVontae Turpin who were found in other professional leagues, to Dak Prescott and DaRon Bland who were found in the latter portions of the draft, to Tony Romo and Miles Austin who were signed as undrafted free agents, the Cowboys have a knack for finding treasure in the rarest of places.
When Dallas signed undrafted tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford following the draft last spring, they were hoping they found their next big treasure. Standing almost 6-foot-7, 270-pounds, “big” might be an understatement.
The rookie from Minnesota was in demand following the draft. Players his size don’t come around very often and to many scouts, Spann-Ford had a draftable grade. What transpired was a bidding war, with team pit against team in an auction the Cowboys are all too familiar with. As fate would have it, Dallas won, outbidding the competition by guaranteeing $225,000 and throwing in a signing bonus of another $20,000 for good measure.
The sizable deal came with sizable expectations. In order to justify the costs, Spann-Ford would need to make the roster out of training camp, and he’d have to contribute in some way on game day. On a unit led by Pro Bowler Jake Ferguson and backed up former second rounder Luke Schoonmaker, getting snaps wasn’t going to be easy for the 24-year-old rookie.
12 games into his professional career Spann-Ford has found a way to be that contributor the Cowboys needed him to be. Not only has he logged 76 snaps on special teams, but he’s helped pick up the slack left by Ferguson’s injury absence on offense too. At 230 snaps and counting, Spann-Ford isn’t just craving out an offensive role in 2024 but he’s making the case for a bigger role in the future.
A blocking specialist by nature, Spann-Ford is already the Cowboys’ top-rated blocker at the TE position. Blessed with the size of a left tackle, Spann-Ford has the potential to develop into an elite blocker one day, possibly giving the Cowboys a mismatch player to design plays around.
Ferguson, reportedly close to coming back, will likely seize back his role as true TE1 the moment he’s cleared to play. And Schoonmaker, a player who has stepped up in Ferguson’s absence, will likely continue to be a player the Cowboys seek to develop. At face value this isn’t good news for Spann-Ford stockholders, but a deeper look shows Spann-Ford’s value and role remain intact.
As a blocker, Spann-Ford’s numbers and screen time are never going to jump out at people. But for the offensive line nuts who love nothing more than watching a well-executed run scheme play out, Spann-Ford is must-see-TV. Not perfect, but starting to flash dominant characteristics, the Cowboys newest UDFA is a player on the rise who still fits plenty of TE2 roles and responsibilities. There will likely be a rotation at the TE position the rest of the way this season and the two backups will both demand opportunities.
The Cowboys rarely use three TEs at the same time (1.3 percent) but that doesn’t mean three TEs won’t play each week. Spann-Ford is an exciting player who may be carving out a major role for the near future.
Here’s the latest status for the Cowboys’ Jake Ferguson for Week 13 against the New York Giants.
The Dallas Cowboys cannot seem to get out from under the injury bug. The club, already down their franchise quarterback Dak Prescott for the remainder of the year, has struggled to get their downfield targets involved. CeeDee Lamb was just coming out of his early season funk when Prescott was lost in Week 9. He wasn’t getting much help.
Brandin Cooks had just nine catches through four games when he was placed on IR with a knee injury. He’ll return to the lineup in Week 13 against New York, but how much will he be able to contribute? The scheme has been unable to make Kavontae Turpin a serious inclusion in the offense more often than not. The development of third-year wideout Jalen Tolbert, second-year man Jalen Brooks or rookie Ryan Flournoy has been slow. The one guy who was established, TE Jake Ferguson, seems to have regressed from his Pro Bowl 2023.
And a concussion suffered in Week 11 will force Ferguson to miss his second consecutive game when the Cowboys take on the Giants Thanksgiving afternoon.
The third-year man out of Wisconsin caught 71 targets for 761 yards and scored five touchdowns in 2023. He’s failed to reach the end zone so far in 2024, disappointing fantasy owners left and right.
In his wake, Dallas will tun to second-year, second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker, along with 2024 UDFA Brevyn Spann-Ford. Schoonmaker had his finest game as a pro Monday after Ferguson was lost; he’d been relegated to afterthought with Spann-Ford usurping his snaps. The team has also added Princeton Fant to the roster, signed from their own practice squad.
Here’s the latest status for the Cowboys’ Jake Ferguson for Week 12 against the Washington Commanders.
The Dallas Cowboys are running out of targets. The club, already down their franchise quarterback Dak Prescott for the remainder of the year, has struggled to get their downfield targets involved. CeeDee Lamb was just coming out of his early season funk when Prescott was lost in Week 9. He wasn’t getting much help.
Brandin Cooks had just nine catches through four games when he was placed on IR with a knee injury. The scheme has been unable to make Kavontae Turpin a serious inclusion in the offense more often than not. The development of third-year wideout Jalen Tolbert, second-year man Jalen Brooks or rookie Ryan Flournoy has been slow. The one guy who was established, TE Jake Ferguson, seems to have regressed from his Pro Bowl 2023.
And this week against the Washington Commanders, they won’t even have him as a concussion suffered Monday night against Houston will sideline him for Week 12.
The third-year man out of Wisconsin caught 71 targets for 761 yards and scored five touchdowns in 2023. He’s failed to reach the end zone so far in 2024, disappointing fantasy owners left and right.
In his wake, Dallas will tun to second-year, second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker, along with 2024 UDFA Brevyn Spann-Ford. Schoonmaker had his finest game as a pro Monday after Ferguson was lost; he’d been relegated to afterthought with Spann-Ford usurping his snaps.
Schoonmaker saw a career high 10 targets and set a career high with 56 receiving yards in Week 11. Spann-Ford did the same with four catches for 42 yards.
Jake Ferguson explains why the Cowboys’ season can still be saved despite Dak Prescott being out with a hamstring injury
After the 34-6 obliteration at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 10 at AT&T Stadium, it seems quite clear that it’s time to close the curtains on the Dallas Cowboys season (yes, pun intended).
This team has been playing with a sub-zero confidence level since the Week 2 beatdown against the now 3-7 Saints and continues to show week in and week out that they don’t have any answers. Throw in losing your starting quarterback for the rest of the year and having to rely on Cooper Rush and Trey Lance to help turn your season around, it doesn’t look promising.
Despite the frustration, tight end Jake Ferguson still has hope. Ferguson recently joined Sports Seriously, on behalf of USAA, and said he wasn’t ready to count Dallas out just yet.
“There’s two things you can do right now in this situation. You can roll over, you can say we’re done, or you can buckle down, figure out what it may be that needs to be done and start winning some games.”
They are sitting at 3-6 with only eight games left and are dealing with injuries at nearly every position. So how can they turn it around? Well, that starts with coaching and quarterback play.
Yes, Dallas went 4-1 with Cooper Rush under center back in 2022 when Dak Prescott was sidelined with a thumb injury for five weeks, but that was with a legitimate run game and a remarkably stout defense— regardless, that seems like a non-issue in the locker room.
“I have full confidence in this team and this coaching staff to pull it together and create the schemes so we can go out and prep the whole week and get ready to execute,” Ferguson said.
Another issue that Dallas needs to fix, and quickly for that matter, is their play at home. In stark contrast to their season last year, in which the Cowboys went 9-0 at home (a 17-game home win streak dating back to 2022), they have now fallen to 0-4 at home in the 2024 season— technically 0-5 if you want to count their Wild Card playoff loss to the Packers last season.
When asked about their struggles at AT&T Stadium and how much that’s dependent on red zone execution, Ferguson didn’t hold back.
“If you want to win games you got to score points. Last game, having two opportunities where I think both were inside the 15, maybe inside the 10, and not executing on that… it’s hard it’s hard to win games doing that.”
He’s right, and from the outside looking in, the two main factors that contribute to that are the lack of efficiency on the ground and the lack of talent outside of CeeDee Lamb.
Ferguson has shown many moments of potential stardom and is without a doubt an elite blocker. However, he’s struggling to get open, which ultimately, comes down to the fact that Mike McCarthy and Brian Schottenheimer have taken away more of his seam routes so he can chip more at the line of scrimmage.
“My job is to do what they tell me to do. I’m doing whatever I can to help this team win and we’re not winning, so there’s obviously some more things that I can do to help this team,” Ferguson said when asked about his use and production.
Additionally, he reiterated that this is not the end.
“It’s not a death sentence. There are things you can do and there are ways to get out of it and it starts with winning games, it starts with one day at a time.”
You can watch the full conversation in the video above.
The Cowboys found their No.2 option in the passing game. | From @ReidDHanson
The Cowboys’ passing offense is built around the brilliance of CeeDee Lamb. The fifth-year veteran from Oklahoma has fast become one of the best receivers in the NFL and represents the heart and soul of Dallas downfield attack. After Lamb is where things get interesting.
The No. 2 option in Dallas was supposed to be veteran receiver Brandin Cooks. But a slow start to the season coupled with an untimely injury has landed the veteran on IR and out of the conversation. Jalen Tolbert, the “next man up” in this scenario, enjoyed a coming out party as the Cowboys new WR2. His seven receptions for 87 yards set career highs and his game-winning touchdown against the Steelers in the final seconds cemented his place in rivalry lore forever.
For as promising as Tolbert is, it’s Jake Ferguson, the Cowboys’ tight end, who’s actually the No. 2 pass catching option for Dak Prescott. The 2023 Pro Bowler has quietly posted a rather impressive season thus far in 2024. It’s a testament to his continued development and nothing short of remarkable considering Ferguson has only played in three complete games this season.
In those three games, he’s averaging over 8 targets, 5.6 receptions and 71 yards per game.
In Week 5, Ferguson led all Dallas pass catchers who had three or more targets in success rate (71 percent) and in total EPA (5.4 EPA). He was frequently the secondary option Prescott turned to when Lamb was locked down and a means to exploit second level defenders who were more run-focused in nature.
Ferguson’s ability to play inline (26.6% of the time), in the slot (61.9% of the time) and split out wide (8.6% of the time), makes him a valuable piece to the Cowboys offense. It allows Mike McCarthy to use creative personnel packages without tipping off the offense’s intensions before the snap. His run blocking has been steadily improving and his run after the catch ability has been inspiring to fans as well as teammates.
Tolbert is an ascending player who the Cowboys will need throughout this heart of the schedule. With Cooks out, Dallas will use a variety of players to fill that secondary WR spot opposite Lamb. KaVontae Turpin played a big part in Pittsburgh and Jalen Brooks made contributions of his own.
Tolbert is top dog, but it may be a committee approach to that No. 2 WR spot going forward. At TE, Ferguson has the spot locked down, and as the No. 2 option on offense, it’s Ferguson who offers Prescott someone to lean on.
Former Wisconsin tight end returns from injury, leads team in receiving yards
Former Wisconsin tight end Jake Ferguson was everywhere during the Dallas Cowboys’ 28-25 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
After missing Dallas’ previous game against the New Orleans Saints with a left leg injury, Ferguson returned to the turf for his team’s second straight home game. This time, it was against the dynamic QB Lamar Jackson, bruising running back Derrick Henry and steady head coach John Harbaugh.
Ferguson reeled in six of his 11 targets during the game for 95 receiving yards, by far the most of any Cowboys pass-catcher. To put that into context, superstar wide receiver CeeDee Lamb finished with four catches for 67 receiving yards.
Whenever the 6-foot-5 tight end is available, franchise quarterback Dak Prescott simply plays better. Prescott finished with 379 yards and two touchdowns on the day and primarily utilized Ferguson as a downfield threat throughout the contest.
The 2023 Pro Bowl selection suffered a left leg injury with just over six minutes to play in the third quarter of Dallas’ Week 1 game against the Cleveland Browns. Fortunately, he avoided any serious injury.
If he remains healthy, Ferguson will continue to serve as one of Prescott’s most targeted weapons in 2024. The talented tight end is fresh off a 71-catch, 761-yard and five-touchdown season in 2023.
Ferguson pocketed 145 total receptions, 1,618 receiving yards (an average of 404.5 per season) and 13 touchdowns as a Badger from 2018-21.
All-world running back Derrick Henry ran for 151 yards and two touchdowns, MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson logged a passing and rushing score, and the Baltimore Ravens held on for a 28-25 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday after blowing a 22-point fourth-quarter lead.
Baltimore (1-2) scored touchdowns on their first two drives, while the Cowboys (1-2) have allowed 120 points in their past three home games.
With the final results, here are the top photos from Sunday’s massive win.
The Cowboys finalize preparations for the Baltimore Ravens’ visit, here’s a look at both team’s health status. | From @KDDrummondNFL
The Dallas Cowboys are trending in the right direction when it comes to player availability for Sunday’s crucial early season contest. In danger of dropping to 1-2 on the young season, the Cowboys have a rather extensive injury report this week for having played just two games. Fortunately it looks like many of the players who have appeared on the reports throughout the week are preparing to play, including tight end Jake Ferguson who missed last week’s loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Dallas’ passing offense ground to a halt with only CeeDee Lamb giving the team much of anything until garbage time in the 44-19 blowout. Without Ferguson as a seam threat, the team bogged down once again, leading to four Brandon Aubrey field goals. Lamb missed practice earlier in the week, but it looks like both are going to be at Dak Prescott’s disposalagainst Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens.
In fact of the 14 players listed this week, 11 of them have No Game Designation, meaning they are completely good to go. The other three players are listed as questionable.
TE John Stephens (Hamstring): Questionable
Limited throughout the week
WR CeeDee Lamb (Ankle): No Designation
Wednesday: DNP | Thursday: Limited | Friday: Full
TE Jake Ferguson (Knee): No Designation
Wednesday: Limited | Thursday: Limited | Friday: Full
S Malik Hooker (Shoulder): No Designation
Wednesday: Limited | Thursday: Limited | Friday: Full
CB Trevon Diggs (Foot): No Designation
Wednesday: DNP | Thursday: Limited | Friday: Full
DE Marshawn Kneeland (Calf): No Designation
Practices in Full all week
RG Zack Martin (Knee): No Designation
Wednesday: Limited | Thursday: Full | Friday: Full
WR Brandin Cooks, LB Eric Kendricks, DE DeMarcus Lawrence, DE Tyrus Wheat were all held out Wednesday for non-injury reasons
For the Baltimore Ravens, they will be without guard Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu, who will be out for personal reasonss. WR Deonte Harty (Calf), OLB David Ojabo (Quad) and CB Nate Wiggins (Neck/Concussion) are all questionable.
The Cowboys will more than likely need a replacement plan for their Pro Bowl TE. | From @cdpiglet
The news on Jake Ferguson was as good as could be asked for. Taken out after just three catches for 15 yards in Week 1’s win over Cleveland, fear was a season-ending injury, but it turned out to be an MCL sprain. The sprain typically keeps a player out 2-to-6 weeks.
Dallas gets to exhale that it wasn’t more severe, and head coach Mike McCarthy has indicated he’s doing what he can to return quickly, but the team still has to find a way to replace his production in any games he might miss.
Second-year UDFA Hunter Luepke played more snaps at tight end than fullback in Week 1, and he is an option to take snaps for Ferguson, but there are many other ways to try and replace him.
The second-round pick, Luke Schoonmaker, should be the obvious choice. Between his size, athleticism, pedigree, and draft value, Schoonmaker should be able to step in for Ferguson with an ability to replicate what Ferguson is asked to do. A poor injury history has slowed his development, and he hasn’t had any production, so he isn’t the apparent lock he should be.
John Stephens, Jr. and Brevyn Spann-Ford are undrafted free agents (UDFA) who each have some valuable qualities for replacing Ferguson, but they are unknown in actual games. It would be better if the production loss from Ferguson’s injury came from Brandin Cooks, Jalen Tolbert, and Jalen Brooks. Getting an excellent receiver like Cooks more touches can only help an offense with limited weapons, and developing Tolbert or Brooks into a more reliable target is an ideal scenario because they will still impact the game similarly when Ferguson returns.
You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or YouTube on the Across the Cowboys Podcast
