Dallas Cowboys: 5 Players on the roster bubble after Preseason Week 2

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LOS ANGELES, CA – AUGUST 12: Rico Gathers #80 of the Dallas Cowboys catches a pass as Folarin Orimolade #56 of the Los Angeles Rams defends during the second half of a presason game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

1. Rico Gathers, Tight End

For the last few preseasons, we’ve been hearing people sing the praises of tight end Rico Gathers. Dallas used a sixth-round pick on Gathers out of Baylor, but he never played football for them. Instead, he was a basketball star who switched sports. He went to the Combine and showed enough to get the attention of the Cowboys.

He then spent most of his rookie season on the practice squad, where he was able to work with Tony Romo, who wound up being the backup to Dak Prescott. The belief was that would help him take a huge step the following year. With hopes high in 2017, he had a fantastic preseason.

However, Gathers never made it to the regular season as he spent the year on the IR with concussion issues. Now healthy, the young tight end has a golden opportunity to take over for the retired Jason Witten. So far, he hasn’t done much to make a case for himself.

Not only is Gathers not in line to start, but he may not even make the team. As it stands now, Geoff Swaim and Blake Jarwin look to be the top players at the position and Gathers is fighting with fourth-round pick Dalton Schultz for the third spot. If he loses out to Schultz, he could be in danger of being cut.

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Gathers hasn’t done a lot, but he did make a fantastic catch against the Bengals in the second preseason game. A pass that should have been picked off ended up in Gathers hands as he reached over the defender and snatched the ball. Should he do more of that in the final two weeks, he could force them to keep four tight ends. If not, he could be looking for a new job.

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