He was assessing just the handful of players under his immediate jurisdiction, but Cowboys tight ends coach Lunda Wells could have been speaking for the team’s entire fanbase and grading the organization as a whole, heading into the bye week with one-third of the regular season complete.
“I like where we’re at, but I’m not satisfied with where we’re at. We’ve got more to give.”
Jake Ferguson, Luke Schoonmaker, Sean McKeon, and Peyton Hendershot- before he went on injured reserve- have indeed contributed to the Cowboys’ 4-2 record, but perhaps not in the splashy highlight-reel ways that fans often equate with success.
“We always talk about our room being accountable, being available, and being reliable,” Wells told reporters during the team’s bye week. And in a West-Coast-style offense that is heavily predicated on short passes, the Cowboys tight ends are still working on that last trait.
The unit has 23 total receptions on 38 targets in 2023, a 60.5% catch rate. If they were combined into one player, that number would have our composite tight end sitting in Pat Freiermuth/Colby Parkinson territory- just below Dalton Schultz, the former Cowboy they’re all trying to replace.
Drops have undoubtedly been a high-profile issue thus far for the Dallas group. Hendershot had his hands on a surefire touchdown in Week 1 and couldn’t haul it in; Ferguson had two drops of his own in that same game. The rookie Schoonmaker missed an on-target end zone catch in Week 4’s rout of New England and has snagged just one pass thrown his way all season.
Wells is aware of the problem, but he’s focused more on finding a solution than giving an excuse.
“You’ve got to own the success and the failures,” he said. “We own those drops, but then, hey, keep going forward. You’ve got to own the next opportunity.”
Often for a tight end, the next opportunity comes in some other phase of the offense, like providing key blocks in the run game or simply hustling to be in the right place at the right time, like when McKeon trailed KaVontae Turpin and recovered a fumble 55 yards down the field against the Patriots.
“A lot of times, we talk in our room about having great energy. Energy is great, right? It’s solid. It’s dope, right? But if the energy is not showing up between the white lines, meaning the way that you play the game on a high level, with effort…” Wells trailed off. “I don’t care if you missed the block, didn’t make the catch, we’re moving forward and having great energy.”
Dak Prescott and the offense have looked to Ferguson to step into a leading role after Schultz’s departure in the offseason. While the second-year product out of Wisconsin currently sits third on the team in both catches and receiving yards, Wells has credited him with doing a lot of what he calls “sleep money,” or behind-the-scenes work- like protections- that doesn’t show up in a box score but makes the rest of the offense go.
“Ferguson has done a heck of a job handling the responsibility, preparing himself to get to this point,” Wells said of the 24-year-old. “And then with some of the success he’s had in the passing game, he’s handling it very well every day. He’s coming in, continuing to work hard on the field and off the field, in meetings. He’s doing a nice job.”
Schoonmaker has had a rougher transition to Sunday play. There were big expectations for the second-round draft pick out of Michigan, but the return on the Cowboys’ investment thus far has been minor.
“We got behind the 8-ball a little bit in the offseason,” Wells said, referring to a plantar fascia injury suffered by the rookie this summer, “but since he’s been able to get back on the grass, he’s continually gotten better. Some of the things that we’ve been emphasizing in the run game [are] playing with a little bit more play strength. And in the passing game, just being more decisive, so we continue to work on that, and then also, just the ball skills and the RAC [run-after-catch] ability. So he’s progressing; hasn’t had a ton of production.”
With a group that’s still evolving, every bit of input helps. And that’s why Prescott, the offense’s field general, has taken it upon himself to start sitting in on tight end positional meetings, something he’s not done in years past.
Wells shared that he used to take Schultz to the QB room for meetings. But with a platoon of young and inexperienced tight ends all vying for snaps, Prescott’s presence at the Saturday-morning sessions allows him to get on the same page with all of his tight ends at once.
But it’s doing far more than that.
The quarterback is “really showing them what he’s thinking,” Wells said, “but even more so, showing them that he sees them. That’s been encouraging for the room. That gets them a little bit excited.”
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It’s all part of the overall maturation of the Dallas tight end room, whose members- including practice squadder Princeton Fant- have an average age of under 25 and an average pro resume of just 18 games.
So yes, they still have much to learn. And if special Saturday-morning classroom work with their $40-million quarterback helps their development and communication, then so be it.
“It’s like babies talking to babies,” Wells said of his troops. “Nobody else really needs to understand it, but as long as they understand it, then it’s all good.”
Then Wells laughed and clarified a key point about his 6-foot-tall pupils.
“Not saying that they’re babies.”
Except in NFL terms, they are.
Cowboys Nation, though, is hoping they do some growing up fast.
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