Jason Witten planning on retiring

[Broncofan]

Guy was a warrior.   But it was time.  Gates could take a lesson here.  Get out before the game boots you out. 

[TheKillerNacho]

So  its official now, then?

If so, wish him the best. Cowboys were reportedly blindsided by this... he probably should've communicated better but eh, his life.

[TheKillerNacho]

A lot of nothing at TE on the Cowboys' roster now. Aside from 4th round rookie Dalton Schultz, they have, I've determined by a quick google search, some dudes named Geoff Swaim, Rico Gathers, and Blake Jarwin. That puts Swaim as the only TE on the roster with an NFL reception, with nine (only two last season).

The 'Boys better hope Schultz is ready to start right away, lol.

[Broncofan]

23 minutes ago, TheKillerNacho said:

So  its official now, then?

If so, wish him the best. Cowboys were reportedly blindsided by this... he probably should've communicated better but eh, his life.

The irony of the Cowboys cutting Dez this late and then being blindsided by Witten is rich.   I can’t feel bad for teams they do this to players all the time.   Witten made a business decision.    

DAL fans who complain about this as a bed reflection on Witten (I know you’re not saying that, just seeing these takes already on Twitter and on XM radio) should check themselves here.  

[Danger]

On 4/27/2018 at 12:50 PM, RuskieTitan said:

Does Witten has enough to reach the Hall of Fame? I think he has a good chance.

No see, it doesn't work if the player actually belongs, Ruskie.  

[canadaluvsdallas]

5 hours ago, Broncofan said:

The irony of the Cowboys cutting Dez this late and then being blindsided by Witten is rich.   I can’t feel bad for teams they do this to players all the time.   Witten made a business decision.    

DAL fans who complain about this as a bed reflection on Witten (I know you’re not saying that, just seeing these takes already on Twitter and on XM radio) should check themselves here.  

No Dallas fan is complaining about this as a bad reflection on Witten. We respect the **** outta him. Don't make up stuff and slander our fan-base.

[Woz]

Just now, canadaluvsdallas said:

No Dallas fan is complaining about this as a bad reflection on Witten. We respect the **** outta him. Don't make up stuff and slander our fanbase

Hell, if one did, I'd criticize that person.

[Broncofan]

22 minutes ago, canadaluvsdallas said:

No Dallas fan is complaining about this as a bad reflection on Witten. We respect the **** outta him. Don't make up stuff and slander our fan-base.

Dude, type in "Witten timing" on Twitter, you'll see many Cowboy fans who said as much even 4 days ago.  And that's not even counting the ones who called in this AM on XM. They aren't representative of the majority I'm sure - but I never said that, either.   Like @Woz said, even one is one too many.  That's all I said.   

FWIW, I'd say the same about how DAL treating Dez as for my Broncos treating CJ Anderson the same way, teams do this all the time - it's the take that somehow a player can't do the same to a team that's unfounded.  Not a single person should have this take, given how team-friendly NFL contracts are.     

SMH @ the saltiness. 
 

[showtime]

He's definitely a hall-of-famer.  To me, the argument of saying something like, "He's not a top 3 TE in his era" is nonsense.  Why?  Because if you include Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates in his era then yes, of course Witten is not anywhere near as good as those guys.  But so what?  Gonzalez and Gates are two of the greatest TE's ever.  Rob Gronkowski played in his era, but he's arguably the greatest of all-time when he was healthy.

It's the same argument some people use against Drew Brees.  "He was never the best QB of his era or even top 2".... Dude, he played in the same era as Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Aaron Rodgers - arguably three of the top 5 QB's ever.  But Drew Brees is amazing and to me he is one of the greatest I've ever seen. 

[Broncofan]

That was one helluva classy exit presser by Witten (heard it on XM driving home so no link yet).  

[Texas_OutLaw7]

I encourage all of you to see the full 17 minutes of Wittens Speeach. The 5 or so minutes of Jerry's. But I loved this part, when Jason Garrett starts speaking about Witten:

 

And here is the specific play.

 

[Kiwibrown]

To me he is the hall of very long, not the hall of fame. But I think he gets in cos of his cowboys connection. We 

[Broncofan]

I'm kind of ambivalent on Witten, because I don't know if he was dominant, top 3 TE at any point in his career.    He was consistent, and a compiler.  But longevity does count for something.   

Is there an 3-year stretch where we can argue he was dominant top TE (or behind a HoF TE, to make sure we don't ding him for playing with Gonzalez/Gates) of his time?    If we look at all the TE's who are in the HoF, they all can make that case.   That's probably the missing piece to his argument.   I know he was the top TE in 2010, but its had to recall any other dominant seasons.    Part of the problem is IIRC he wasn't a huge RZ weapon, as he only scored 7+ TD's 3x.   For this 15 seasons, those 68 TD's underline how much of a between-the-20's guy he was.   Maybe that's unfair, but along with DAL's run of mediocrity in his era, those probably ding his perception.

Then again, few have had his extended level of consistent play.   It comes down to what you value more, I guess.   He certainly will present an interesting argument once he's eligible. 

[Nabbs4u]

12 hours ago, TheKillerNacho said:

So  its official now, then?

If so, wish him the best. Cowboys were reportedly blindsided by this... he probably should've communicated better but eh, his life.

I'm sure Witten was also caught off guard with the MNF offer. Yes the timing could of been better but the Cowboys still knew day one of the draft it was extremely possible.

 

Thank you for retiring you Royal pain in the Eagles......??

[Calvert28]

2 hours ago, Broncofan said:

I'm kind of ambivalent on Witten, because I don't know if he was dominant, top 3 TE at any point in his career.    He was consistent, and a compiler.  But longevity does count for something.   

Is there an 3-year stretch where we can argue he was dominant top TE (or behind a HoF TE, to make sure we don't ding him for playing with Gonzalez/Gates) of his time?    If we look at all the TE's who are in the HoF, they all can make that case.   That's probably the missing piece to his argument.   I know he was the top TE in 2010, but its had to recall any other dominant seasons.    Part of the problem is IIRC he wasn't a huge RZ weapon, as he only scored 7+ TD's 3x.   For this 15 seasons, those 68 TD's underline how much of a between-the-20's guy he was.   Maybe that's unfair, but along with DAL's run of mediocrity in his era, those probably ding his perception.

Then again, few have had his extended level of consistent play.   It comes down to what you value more, I guess.   He certainly will present an interesting argument once he's eligible. 

There were a few years when he was arguably the best TE in football. His all around game from receiving to blocking was near perfect. The majority of people usually only look at the receiving numbers when judging a TE. But Witten did everything asked of him and he did it at an elite level.