Dallas Cowboys: How real is the Jason Witten hype?

In his return to the Dallas Cowboys, Jason Witten is drawing rave reviews at offseason workouts. But just how much should fans buy the hype?

Back in the 2003 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys selected tight end Jason Witten, formerly of the Tennessee Volunteers. The 2018 season was the first time since then that Witten didn’t don No. 82 and the star on his helmet, heading to the Monday Night Football broadcast booth. But after one year off, he’s back on the field for the Cowboys after signing a one-year deal.

The last time that the Cowboys had Witten on the field in 2017, the returns were fine, but not much more. The tight end hauled in 63 of his 87 targets on the season for 560 yards and five touchdowns. However, the troublesome part was just watching him. Though never an elite athlete, Witten seemed too slow, too stiff and was like the old man in a pickup game using savvy more than physical tools to win when he did.

Fast-forward through his year off in the broadcast booth and, if you ask everyone at Cowboys OTAs, he’s nothing like the player everyone saw in 2017 — and it’s for the better. Per Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, head coach Jason Garrett is stunned by the physical performance he’s seeing from Witten:

"“Yeah I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it, to be honest,” Garrett said. “You don’t see many players walking away and coming back. And for him to come back and just be in the shape that he’s been in says a lot about who he is and what he’s been able to accomplish over the course of his career.”"

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Quarterback Dak Prescott echoed that sentiment, saying that Witten “hasn’t lost a step.” With all of this coming out of offseason workouts, the Jason Witten hype has officially gotten underway as he prepares to return to the field. But just how much can we actually buy into that?

After all, this is the best-shape-of-his-life season in the NFL. Before the pads have been put on and before even the preseason has got underway, you hear a ton of rave reviews about players and their performance in workouts. Thus, hearing that Witten is out on the field wowing coaches and teammates should be taken with somewhat of a grain of salt.

Contrarily, though, when you look at what Witten was doing in 2017, there was nothing physically impressive about it. Thus, for him to be drawing the praise he has isn’t completely negligible. These are the players that saw him essentially slogging on a play-by-play basis in his last season, so for them to see a difference in his physical performance matters.

In truth, it would stand to reason that Witten looks better physically after a year away from football. An iron man in the truest sense, the tight end played in every game of his career from 2004-17. Regardless of if you’re the toughest man on the planet or not, that’s going to take its toll on a player. So there’s a viable chance that Witten is finally healthy and the result is a better physical performance in workouts.

At 37 years old, though, Father Time is certainly working against Witten. If the hype for his physical presence is warranted, the rigors of a 16-game season (not including the playoffs) could cause that to decline quickly. Having said that, the Cowboys have the bodies with the likes of Blake Jarwin and Dalton Schultz to work Witten into a rotation so he doesn’t take the beating he once did.

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Subsequently, the best approach for Cowboys fans hearing the reviews of Witten in workouts is that of cautious optimism. Temper expectations because this is a 37-year old tight end who sat out a year. At the same time, though, be ready for him to surprise some people if he comes out and looks refreshed after getting time to heal up and looks more like the Jason Witten of old as opposed to old Jason Witten.

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