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- Apr 7, 2013
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By Bob Sturm
33m ago
Every week until the regular season, this series will put the spotlight on a key, but not fully established Cowboys player who is still on his way to his finished form. It will try to examine where his journey has gone so far, where 2022 might take him and beyond.
Dalton Schultz was the 10th tight end taken in the 2018 NFL Draft and, at pick 137, he certainly was much better than his draft spot. Several of the nine players in front of him are no longer with their draft teams and only three would be considered better players than Schultz at this point: Baltimore’s Mark Andrews, Philadelphia’s Dallas Goedert and Miami’s Mike Gesicki. But, the conversation gets a lot more interesting the moment you move the sample sizes to just consider the past two seasons. Since 2020, when Dallas made it a point to feature Schultz much more (partially because Blake Jarwin’s health issues began and never really ended), Schultz can put his numbers up against anyone, save Andrews.
Last week, the Cowboys elected to not find a long-term deal that Schultz would be happy about in place of his “franchise tag” designation given this spring. In fact, the discussions never seemed to come even close to something substantive. It appeared to be a mechanism only used to secure Schultz for Dallas in 2022, but in doing so secured him more money for one season than most of his draft mates will make in their career. Alas, the $10.9 million he is guaranteed for 2022 more than doubles the slightly-less-than $5 million he has made for his four years of work to this juncture of his career.
Even more interesting is how the four excellent tight ends from the 2018 class were handled by their teams. None of the four were first-round picks and therefore all had their rookie deals expire at the end of 2021. Before last season began on Sept. 6, Andrews and the Ravens agreed on a four-year extension to tack on to the end of his final rookie year to the tune of $56 million with $37.6 million fully guaranteed. Then, in November, right after the Eagles traded long-time star TE Zack Ertz, the Eagles and Goedert were able to use the Andrews deal to create their own four-year, $57 million deal with $35.2 million guaranteed. Goedert was able to get slightly more in AAV and become the third-highest paid tight end, but with a bit less guaranteed in the end.
One more deal to throw in for good measure was given to Cleveland’s David Njoku, a 2017 first-round pick who did have a fifth year so he finally came free this year, too. He has been plenty banged up and from 2019 to 2021 has been largely a tease. However, he has shown to have tons of tools and the Browns were not eager to let someone else reap those benefits now and gave him a four-year, $54.7 million deal with $28 million guaranteed which is certainly a concession for his spotty attendance record.
As you can see, all three of those deals are pretty close to each other and set the market.
Mike Gesicki (Sam Navarro / USA Today)
That left the other two — Gesicki in Miami and Schultz here — to find their numbers. The teams secured both of them from free agency by giving them the tag and no long-term deal was to be found before the July 15 deadline. In Gesicki’s case, he has a reputation as a pure wide receiver in a tight end’s body. With Mike McDaniel bringing over the Kyle Shanahan running game, it is fair to wonder how well the role of George Kittle can be properly filled by Gesicki and if the Dolphins wish to use 2022 to figure that out — I cannot blame them. He will get the exact same $10.9 million Schultz got, so he is probably fine with that number, too, if he can’t get his $56 million that the other guys averaged.
But, we aren’t here to talk about Gesicki. We are here to see about Schultz and his future with a Star on his helmet.
Dalton Schultz
Age: 26
College: Stanford
Drafted: 2018, Round 4, Pick 137
Height/weight/40: 6-5, 250, 4.75
Contract: Signed for 2022 on the franchise tag for $10.9 million
Where we have been:
When Schultz was drafted in 2018 and in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, it was the day after the surprise announcement that Jason Witten was just hired by ESPN to do Monday Night Football. Witten had been a mainstay since 2003 and while everyone knew the day was coming, it sure felt like the day shocked most everyone involved. In fact, there was a belief that Dallas was hot on the tail of drafting South Dakota State’s Goedert (which sources have denied many times despite his first name actually being “Dallas”) until the Eagles snuck into the 49th pick via trade and grabbed him first. At Pick 50, Dallas took Connor Williams from Texas and the rest is history. They would not get their tight end until the next day when Schultz was selected as a compensatory pick. There was even some question if he would make the team among some media as the third and final TE spot seemed to be a contest between him and Rico Gathers who had moments where he could leap tall buildings in a single bound. The first two spots were secured as the team attempted to use Geoff Swaim and Jarwin to give them a replacement-level stop-gap for Witten’s retirement.
My initial evaluations of Schultz out of Stanford were that he was not much of a pass-catcher, but for being undersized at his position, he run blocked with great enthusiasm and effectiveness in Stanford’s well-regarded running game. If you can block at Stanford or Wisconsin, odds are pretty good you are on the Cowboys’ war-room screens plenty and they have you circled. He was seen as a project receiver, but they needed to get some body-movers at tight end, so they were excited about his potential. Also, he was pretty young when they drafted him, a few months from his 22nd birthday, so he had plenty of time to grow into it and add 10-15 pounds in the weight room during his rookie contract.
In 2018, he was inactive a fair bit but started to get opportunities down the stretch. You may recall that Jarwin had his career game in the final week of 2018 (119 yards and three touchdowns) and that placed him well in front of Schultz going into 2019. Then, the return of Witten from the booth for the final season of Jason Garrett dealt Dalton even a bigger blow for his sophomore season. He was active for the entire season as the third TE, but he barely played and had one catch in 2019.
Then, 2020 happened. In March, Witten left again — this time for the Raiders — after the Mike McCarthy regime did not make a very aggressive move to get him to stay for another year. The day before that, the Cowboys signed Jarwin to a very nice four-year contract for $22 million (just over $9 million guaranteed) and named him the starter. Schultz would serve as the No. 2 tight end and we knew McCarthy loves his multiple-TE looks. But, we would hardly ever see it because in the first half of the very first game of 2020 at Los Angeles, Jarwin tore his ACL and missed the entire year. Then, his return in 2021 would be short-lived as a hip would send him to the IR yet again and ultimately to an injury settlement and his release to save a chunk of cap room for 2022.
Schultz went from a tight end deep on the depth chart to the default starter for both his third and fourth seasons. It is very likely they would have sought to upgrade if he did not keep his end of the bargain, but there is no question that he took the opportunity and ran with it. In fact, he should be widely credited with his hard work behind the scenes to become a steady producer of catches, yards and first downs for the passing game in the McCarthy era. In the last two years since he was given his big chance, his 141 receptions are exceeded by only three tight ends in the NFL: Travis Kelce, Andrews and Darren Waller. Only six have more yardage than Schultz’s 1,423 yards: Kelce, Andrews, Waller, Kittle, Gesicki and Rob Gronkowski. And, only five tight ends have produced more touchdowns than Dalton’s 12: Kelce, Andrews, Gronkowski, Robert Tonyan and Hunter Henry.
Think about that. A guy with six yards in 16 games in 2019 exploded for top 5-10 production in the next two years with just a door opening for him. It sort of demonstrates how important opportunity is at this level. Give a guy a chance — especially in a high-octane offense — and who knows what he is capable of?
Schultz has gone from an unknown to an excellent “fantasy football” tight end. But, is he an excellent “real football” tight end who should be regarded with those top contracts being given? And if so, why did the Cowboys seem to not even really try to find an extension for him this summer? That clearly annoyed Schultz in that he decided to skip some OTA sessions in June to show his displeasure.
This could potentially be a great victory for a front office that takes a lot of criticism for developing key starters from deep in drafts if it can champion a late fourth-round pick elevating his stature to a top-10 tight end by the end of his rookie contract. What a story in player development that would be.
So what gives?
Where we are headed:
I will not tell you this is Cowboys-sourced information because it is not. This is simply my efforts in trying to continue to provide you with my observations and analysis of each player on this roster. Please take that for what it is worth and understand that my thinking and their thinking may not always be in line.
There is little question that if Schultz had been allowed to hit the open market in March, he would have very likely received a wonderful contract to switch teams. None of these extensions above that the league handed fifth-year tight ends were UFA bidding wars. The franchise tag was used at this position because the tag number is certainly lower than the AAV that he would have received league-wide. We don’t have any idea what his number would have been, but a 25-year-old getting to free agency with those stats? Rest assured he would have done very well. Probably $40 million in guarantees is reasonable, so you can understand his attitude that Dallas wanted to tag him, but not really extend him at that price.
Schultz caught 78 passes for 808 yards in 2021. (Jerome Miron / USA Today)
I have several reservations about looking at statistical rankers and concluding that he is of the quality of Waller or Kittle or Kelce or Andrews. I don’t believe he is on that tier. Briefly, allow me to explain my thought process.
1. He is not a consistent vertical threat tight end. That top tier is. Andrews was targeted down the field (targeted at least 15+ yards downfield) 45 times in 2021. Waller was 30 times and Kyle Pitts 28. Vertical threats — especially down the seams — occupy safeties and change up coverages for your wide receivers. It was the bread and butter of Witten for many years with Tony Romo. Clear the linebackers and wreck stuff in the open field. Schultz has shown glimpses of that, but he was targeted only 13 times down the field. That ranks 18th in the league and if you are not a vertical threat, then I might suggest much of your production comes underneath as a dump-down when Dak Prescott’s primaries are covered. That is useful, but not as useful. We did see it against the Giants and the Raiders, but not a consistent part of the diet of this offense.
2. He is not a dangerous X-receiver in a 3 x 1 formation as the lone threat to his side. This is called trips, TE away — split out that is used so much by Kansas City to isolate Kelce away from the trips. The premise is to force the defense to choose its poison. Do you roll a safety to help out whoever is alone with Kelce or do you worry about the trips (with all of the speed of Tyreek Hill and friends) on the trips side? You determine that as a safety duo and then the QB will see great opportunities to the other side. Unfortunately, as often as Dallas tried Schultz in this (50 times!), it never seemed to yield big plays that changed the math. Kelce works over there because he terrifies his opponent. Schultz doesn’t yet and even more so, as shown in this Kurt Warner video, Prescott even throws to the trips and turns down golden chances to Schultz as he did in the playoff game. If your QB would rather throw it to the defense’s strength than trust his tight end to win in a one-on-one, that should give us some pause.
3. He is an above-average run blocker, but far from elite. The thing that makes tight ends elite is either they are as dominant as wide receivers as vertical threats or they are true dual-threat studs. Kittle is as good a blocker as there is in the NFL. Andrews is great at blocking. Schultz is pretty good, but seemingly a bit more limited at times. He is much better than the “receiver-only” tight ends at blocking, but we have to ask what his greatest strength is. And with Schultz, it is probably that he is pretty good at many things, but probably not fantastic at any of them.
Where are we headed in 2022? Well, he may have a chip on his shoulder for all of the doubters. I suppose Stephen Jones and me are in the same group here. I would have probably done what Jones did, although if I had to choose between the tag on Schultz and losing Amari Cooper, I may have kept Cooper and drafted a tight end in April pretty high on the board.
Schultz has a chance to continue to improve on those vertical and isolation concerns as a receiver and if he does, he will no doubt get his big-time payday next March — likely somewhere else. Or, maybe Dallas and Schultz can find a number that keeps him here long-term. You can do better than Schultz, but that group is getting smaller every year. He is a very nice piece to have for 2022 and he is again challenged to prove it.
Who knows where this story ends up by the end of this season?
33m ago
Every week until the regular season, this series will put the spotlight on a key, but not fully established Cowboys player who is still on his way to his finished form. It will try to examine where his journey has gone so far, where 2022 might take him and beyond.
Dalton Schultz was the 10th tight end taken in the 2018 NFL Draft and, at pick 137, he certainly was much better than his draft spot. Several of the nine players in front of him are no longer with their draft teams and only three would be considered better players than Schultz at this point: Baltimore’s Mark Andrews, Philadelphia’s Dallas Goedert and Miami’s Mike Gesicki. But, the conversation gets a lot more interesting the moment you move the sample sizes to just consider the past two seasons. Since 2020, when Dallas made it a point to feature Schultz much more (partially because Blake Jarwin’s health issues began and never really ended), Schultz can put his numbers up against anyone, save Andrews.
Last week, the Cowboys elected to not find a long-term deal that Schultz would be happy about in place of his “franchise tag” designation given this spring. In fact, the discussions never seemed to come even close to something substantive. It appeared to be a mechanism only used to secure Schultz for Dallas in 2022, but in doing so secured him more money for one season than most of his draft mates will make in their career. Alas, the $10.9 million he is guaranteed for 2022 more than doubles the slightly-less-than $5 million he has made for his four years of work to this juncture of his career.
Even more interesting is how the four excellent tight ends from the 2018 class were handled by their teams. None of the four were first-round picks and therefore all had their rookie deals expire at the end of 2021. Before last season began on Sept. 6, Andrews and the Ravens agreed on a four-year extension to tack on to the end of his final rookie year to the tune of $56 million with $37.6 million fully guaranteed. Then, in November, right after the Eagles traded long-time star TE Zack Ertz, the Eagles and Goedert were able to use the Andrews deal to create their own four-year, $57 million deal with $35.2 million guaranteed. Goedert was able to get slightly more in AAV and become the third-highest paid tight end, but with a bit less guaranteed in the end.
One more deal to throw in for good measure was given to Cleveland’s David Njoku, a 2017 first-round pick who did have a fifth year so he finally came free this year, too. He has been plenty banged up and from 2019 to 2021 has been largely a tease. However, he has shown to have tons of tools and the Browns were not eager to let someone else reap those benefits now and gave him a four-year, $54.7 million deal with $28 million guaranteed which is certainly a concession for his spotty attendance record.
As you can see, all three of those deals are pretty close to each other and set the market.
Mike Gesicki (Sam Navarro / USA Today)
That left the other two — Gesicki in Miami and Schultz here — to find their numbers. The teams secured both of them from free agency by giving them the tag and no long-term deal was to be found before the July 15 deadline. In Gesicki’s case, he has a reputation as a pure wide receiver in a tight end’s body. With Mike McDaniel bringing over the Kyle Shanahan running game, it is fair to wonder how well the role of George Kittle can be properly filled by Gesicki and if the Dolphins wish to use 2022 to figure that out — I cannot blame them. He will get the exact same $10.9 million Schultz got, so he is probably fine with that number, too, if he can’t get his $56 million that the other guys averaged.
But, we aren’t here to talk about Gesicki. We are here to see about Schultz and his future with a Star on his helmet.
Dalton Schultz
Age: 26
College: Stanford
Drafted: 2018, Round 4, Pick 137
Height/weight/40: 6-5, 250, 4.75
Contract: Signed for 2022 on the franchise tag for $10.9 million
Where we have been:
When Schultz was drafted in 2018 and in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, it was the day after the surprise announcement that Jason Witten was just hired by ESPN to do Monday Night Football. Witten had been a mainstay since 2003 and while everyone knew the day was coming, it sure felt like the day shocked most everyone involved. In fact, there was a belief that Dallas was hot on the tail of drafting South Dakota State’s Goedert (which sources have denied many times despite his first name actually being “Dallas”) until the Eagles snuck into the 49th pick via trade and grabbed him first. At Pick 50, Dallas took Connor Williams from Texas and the rest is history. They would not get their tight end until the next day when Schultz was selected as a compensatory pick. There was even some question if he would make the team among some media as the third and final TE spot seemed to be a contest between him and Rico Gathers who had moments where he could leap tall buildings in a single bound. The first two spots were secured as the team attempted to use Geoff Swaim and Jarwin to give them a replacement-level stop-gap for Witten’s retirement.
My initial evaluations of Schultz out of Stanford were that he was not much of a pass-catcher, but for being undersized at his position, he run blocked with great enthusiasm and effectiveness in Stanford’s well-regarded running game. If you can block at Stanford or Wisconsin, odds are pretty good you are on the Cowboys’ war-room screens plenty and they have you circled. He was seen as a project receiver, but they needed to get some body-movers at tight end, so they were excited about his potential. Also, he was pretty young when they drafted him, a few months from his 22nd birthday, so he had plenty of time to grow into it and add 10-15 pounds in the weight room during his rookie contract.
In 2018, he was inactive a fair bit but started to get opportunities down the stretch. You may recall that Jarwin had his career game in the final week of 2018 (119 yards and three touchdowns) and that placed him well in front of Schultz going into 2019. Then, the return of Witten from the booth for the final season of Jason Garrett dealt Dalton even a bigger blow for his sophomore season. He was active for the entire season as the third TE, but he barely played and had one catch in 2019.
Then, 2020 happened. In March, Witten left again — this time for the Raiders — after the Mike McCarthy regime did not make a very aggressive move to get him to stay for another year. The day before that, the Cowboys signed Jarwin to a very nice four-year contract for $22 million (just over $9 million guaranteed) and named him the starter. Schultz would serve as the No. 2 tight end and we knew McCarthy loves his multiple-TE looks. But, we would hardly ever see it because in the first half of the very first game of 2020 at Los Angeles, Jarwin tore his ACL and missed the entire year. Then, his return in 2021 would be short-lived as a hip would send him to the IR yet again and ultimately to an injury settlement and his release to save a chunk of cap room for 2022.
Schultz went from a tight end deep on the depth chart to the default starter for both his third and fourth seasons. It is very likely they would have sought to upgrade if he did not keep his end of the bargain, but there is no question that he took the opportunity and ran with it. In fact, he should be widely credited with his hard work behind the scenes to become a steady producer of catches, yards and first downs for the passing game in the McCarthy era. In the last two years since he was given his big chance, his 141 receptions are exceeded by only three tight ends in the NFL: Travis Kelce, Andrews and Darren Waller. Only six have more yardage than Schultz’s 1,423 yards: Kelce, Andrews, Waller, Kittle, Gesicki and Rob Gronkowski. And, only five tight ends have produced more touchdowns than Dalton’s 12: Kelce, Andrews, Gronkowski, Robert Tonyan and Hunter Henry.
Think about that. A guy with six yards in 16 games in 2019 exploded for top 5-10 production in the next two years with just a door opening for him. It sort of demonstrates how important opportunity is at this level. Give a guy a chance — especially in a high-octane offense — and who knows what he is capable of?
Schultz has gone from an unknown to an excellent “fantasy football” tight end. But, is he an excellent “real football” tight end who should be regarded with those top contracts being given? And if so, why did the Cowboys seem to not even really try to find an extension for him this summer? That clearly annoyed Schultz in that he decided to skip some OTA sessions in June to show his displeasure.
This could potentially be a great victory for a front office that takes a lot of criticism for developing key starters from deep in drafts if it can champion a late fourth-round pick elevating his stature to a top-10 tight end by the end of his rookie contract. What a story in player development that would be.
So what gives?
Where we are headed:
I will not tell you this is Cowboys-sourced information because it is not. This is simply my efforts in trying to continue to provide you with my observations and analysis of each player on this roster. Please take that for what it is worth and understand that my thinking and their thinking may not always be in line.
There is little question that if Schultz had been allowed to hit the open market in March, he would have very likely received a wonderful contract to switch teams. None of these extensions above that the league handed fifth-year tight ends were UFA bidding wars. The franchise tag was used at this position because the tag number is certainly lower than the AAV that he would have received league-wide. We don’t have any idea what his number would have been, but a 25-year-old getting to free agency with those stats? Rest assured he would have done very well. Probably $40 million in guarantees is reasonable, so you can understand his attitude that Dallas wanted to tag him, but not really extend him at that price.
Schultz caught 78 passes for 808 yards in 2021. (Jerome Miron / USA Today)
I have several reservations about looking at statistical rankers and concluding that he is of the quality of Waller or Kittle or Kelce or Andrews. I don’t believe he is on that tier. Briefly, allow me to explain my thought process.
1. He is not a consistent vertical threat tight end. That top tier is. Andrews was targeted down the field (targeted at least 15+ yards downfield) 45 times in 2021. Waller was 30 times and Kyle Pitts 28. Vertical threats — especially down the seams — occupy safeties and change up coverages for your wide receivers. It was the bread and butter of Witten for many years with Tony Romo. Clear the linebackers and wreck stuff in the open field. Schultz has shown glimpses of that, but he was targeted only 13 times down the field. That ranks 18th in the league and if you are not a vertical threat, then I might suggest much of your production comes underneath as a dump-down when Dak Prescott’s primaries are covered. That is useful, but not as useful. We did see it against the Giants and the Raiders, but not a consistent part of the diet of this offense.
2. He is not a dangerous X-receiver in a 3 x 1 formation as the lone threat to his side. This is called trips, TE away — split out that is used so much by Kansas City to isolate Kelce away from the trips. The premise is to force the defense to choose its poison. Do you roll a safety to help out whoever is alone with Kelce or do you worry about the trips (with all of the speed of Tyreek Hill and friends) on the trips side? You determine that as a safety duo and then the QB will see great opportunities to the other side. Unfortunately, as often as Dallas tried Schultz in this (50 times!), it never seemed to yield big plays that changed the math. Kelce works over there because he terrifies his opponent. Schultz doesn’t yet and even more so, as shown in this Kurt Warner video, Prescott even throws to the trips and turns down golden chances to Schultz as he did in the playoff game. If your QB would rather throw it to the defense’s strength than trust his tight end to win in a one-on-one, that should give us some pause.
3. He is an above-average run blocker, but far from elite. The thing that makes tight ends elite is either they are as dominant as wide receivers as vertical threats or they are true dual-threat studs. Kittle is as good a blocker as there is in the NFL. Andrews is great at blocking. Schultz is pretty good, but seemingly a bit more limited at times. He is much better than the “receiver-only” tight ends at blocking, but we have to ask what his greatest strength is. And with Schultz, it is probably that he is pretty good at many things, but probably not fantastic at any of them.
Where are we headed in 2022? Well, he may have a chip on his shoulder for all of the doubters. I suppose Stephen Jones and me are in the same group here. I would have probably done what Jones did, although if I had to choose between the tag on Schultz and losing Amari Cooper, I may have kept Cooper and drafted a tight end in April pretty high on the board.
Schultz has a chance to continue to improve on those vertical and isolation concerns as a receiver and if he does, he will no doubt get his big-time payday next March — likely somewhere else. Or, maybe Dallas and Schultz can find a number that keeps him here long-term. You can do better than Schultz, but that group is getting smaller every year. He is a very nice piece to have for 2022 and he is again challenged to prove it.
Who knows where this story ends up by the end of this season?
