5 players the Dallas Cowboys gave up on way too early

2. Martellus Bennett, TE

The Dallas Cowboys used a second-round selection (61st overall) on Martellus Bennett in the 2008 NFL Draft, the same year the team found Danny Amendola in undrafted free agency.

Little did the Cowboys know they were going to let multiple young players go way before they should have, right?

Bennett spent the first four years of his NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys, enjoying a mixed bag of success and failure. He averaged over 14 yards per reception in his rookie season in Dallas and finished with four touchdowns, but those would unfortunately be the only four touchdowns he would score as a member of the Cowboys.

The Cowboys drafted Bennett during the peak of Jason Witten’s time with the team, back when Witten was eating up an average of 130 targets per season. That certainly didn’t allow for a ton of usage of Bennett, but obviously the Cowboys didn’t know what kind of a gem they had on their hands, despite investing a second-round pick in him.

Bennett would leave the Cowboys after his rookie contract was up, and over the next handful of seasons, he would go on to average 754 yards per 17 games, along with five touchdowns per 17 games with an average of 103 targets per season.

He made the Pro Bowl as a member of the Chicago Bears in 2014 when he caught 90 passes for 916 yards and six touchdowns. He helped the New England Patriots win the Super Bowl during the 2016 season when he caught 55 passes for over 700 yards and seven touchdowns, as well as catching 11 of his 15 targets in the playoffs.

Regardless of whether or not there was “room” for Bennett on the Dallas Cowboys, they clearly gave up on him too soon. Or, if you’re Bennett, maybe just in time…