The Dallas Cowboys have had historic tight ends like Jason Witten and Jay Novacek. In the era of Jake Ferguson, the Wisconsin product thrived in the Mike McCarthy offense. But in a contract year, this might be Ferguson’s final season in Dallas. Thankfully, the Cowboys might have his replacement in the building.

The main theme around the Cowboys are the salary cap concerns. With a lot of players in contract years (Micah Parsons, George Pickens, DaRon Bland, etc.) the Cowboys have to be deliberate with what free agents the team retains. One player potentially on the outs could be starting tight end Jake Ferguson.

Ferguson might not have earned a contract extension based on his performance last year. Tight ends are meant to be security blankets for quarterbacks, especially when your starter is down and the backups come in. Jason Witten was a sure-fire first down on third down in his career, no matter who the quarterback was. Witten was a reliable red zone target. Ferguson had 0 touchdowns in 2024 and only 494 receiving yards in 14 games. Having those marks while only missing 3 games is unacceptable for the tight end spot, especially when he’s not a threat in the red zone, a spot on the field Dallas struggled last year.

The Cowboys are no strangers to let athletic, big-bodied tight ends walk in free agency and recoup a compensatory pick. The Cowboys were comfortable letting Dalton Schultz walk in favor of starting Jake Ferguson a year later. Now, Ferguson finds himself in a similar situation.

Brevyn Spann-Ford could be the next man up in the tight end room.

We don’t mean to overlook Luke Schoonmaker, who is technically the second-string tight end on the depth chart. Schoonmaker even had the lone touchdown for a tight end last year. Schoonmaker is a McCarthy guy who showed flashes when on the field, but he might not be the Schottenheimer guy to thrive in this offense.

Schottenheimer is well documented to focus on the running game, particularly using the run to open up play-action opportunities for Dak Prescott. The ideal tight end would need to be a big body catcher who is reliable blocking in the run game.

That ideal tight end is on the roster and his name is Brevyn Spann-Ford.

Spann-Ford is the best run blocking tight end on the roster currently. In his three years starting at the University of Minnesota, that was his bread and butter while he put up 90 catches, 1,032 yards, and 5 touchdowns from 2021-2023.

Schottenheimer specifically has praised Spann-Ford for his work in minicamp. Spann-Ford had a lot of reps with the first-string offense and seems to be gelling well with the opportunity being presented to him. It appears Spann-Ford impressed with the leap from Year 1 going into Year 2 as a Dallas Cowboy, which makes an intriguing storyline going into training camp.

Should Spann-Ford receive more playing time this year and continue to make strides in his game, the Cowboys could let Jake Ferguson walk while they let Luke Schoonmaker enter his contract year in 2026. We might be a full year away from Spann-Ford being the undisputed starter, or it might come sooner than expected.

Jake Ferguson is still the natural pass catcher in the tight end room, and Luke Schoonmaker is most likely the best route runner at tight end for the Cowboys. But if Schottenheimer is serious about running the football, this opens up packages for Brevyn Spann-Ford to be inserted in the lineup and become a household name in Dallas.