Could Ring of Honor be coming in November for Jason Witten?
In his new job as analyst for ESPN’s Monday Night Football, Witten will make his AT&T Stadium TV debut on Nov. 5 against the Tennessee Titans. Considering the welcome home the Cowboys gave to Tony Romo last fall when he called his first Cowboys game for CBS against the Kansas City Chiefs, with a banner atop one of the end zone field suites and a moving pregame tribute, I wonder how all-out the Cowboys will go for Witten. nfl jerseys discount And I mean all-out. I wonder if Jerry Jones opts to put Witten in the Ring of Honor that night. It might be a little too soon, but given Jones’ affection for Witten and what the tight end meant to the franchise for 15 years, would anybody be opposed to seeing it happen that quickly? Imagine the ceremony at halftime of that game, the big audience on television, the other Ring of Honor members in attendance, Witten’s former teammates there. It would be a great night.
The Cowboys do not retire numbers officially. Nobody has worn No. 12 in a game since Roger Staubach. Bob Lilly’s 74 gets handed out in training camp, but that has not been worn in a regular-season game since Lilly’s retirement. It’s the same for Troy Aikman’s No. 8 and Emmitt Smith’s No. 22. I wonder if anybody will wear No. 82 again. I highly, highly doubt it. Witten wore No. 49 at his first training camp and moved to No. 82 after Tony McGee was released at the start of the 2003 season. Speaking of numbers, the No. 88 might see a little retirement, too. The original 88, Drew Pearson, hopes so. The number won’t be put away for good, but the receiver will have to be special to get into the club that includes Pearson, Michael Irvin and Dez Bryant.
I wonder if the Cowboys will wait to add a veteran tight end through the offseason and into training camp. They want to get a look at the players replacing Witten: Geoff Swaim, Blake Jarwin, Rico Gathers and Dalton Schultz. Grabbing a veteran now would only stunt their growth. The Cowboys like all four, but they know they will have to mix and match at tight end after seeing Witten play almost every snap for more than a decade at the spot. They don’t have the complete tight end on campus, but they have pieces that can make up the whole. If the Cowboys get to training camp with questions, then finding a veteran is a distinct possibility. Again, they’re not going to replace Witten with just one guy, but the tight ends on the roster have nine career catches among them. The Cowboys have to go in with the idea that they will need to add a player eventually.
The Cowboys will have two rookie minicamp practices open to the media on Friday and Saturday. All eyes will be on first-round pick Leighton Vander Esch because that’s what happens with first-round picks. Third-round pick Michael Gallup will also get a lot of attention because receivers get noticed in practices without pads. But I wonder if quarterback Mike White will be the player coming out of camp with the most attention.where can i buy nfl jerseys cheap That doesn’t happen often with fifth-round picks, but quarterbacks always are a draw, and White was thought by some to be worthy of a pick earlier than the fifth round. While a veteran tight end might be in the offing for the Cowboys, a veteran quarterback isn’t. The Cowboys like Cooper Rush as Dak Prescott’s backup, but White will have a chance to win a spot this summer either as the No. 2 or No. 3 quarterback.
