Poll: Would Rico Gathers make your 53-man roster?

For a long time the most hotly-debated thing about the Dallas Cowboys was the future (however unknown) of tight end Rico Gathers.

We talked about Rico a lot through the offseason, but things have somewhat cooled through training camp and the first preseason game. You’d think that with actual football things happening the talk would only be ramped up, but his low utilization last Thursday is part of why the heat has dissipated.

We recently did another round of 53-man roster projections here at BTB and only two of the nine polled have Rico making the team. Two of nine.

This feels like a proper reflection of the temperature surrounding Rico these days, but the way things with him have gone, any one singular moment has the potential of turning that tide. Such a moment arrived on Sunday when Rico made a spectacular one-handed catch out in Oxnard.

No one has ever doubted Rico’s ability to make spectacular catches. We saw this talent on full display during last year’s preseason period.

What remains to be seen is how effective Rico is as a total and complete tight end. His trials in the run game as a blocker are well-documented and if we’re going off his polar opposite usage in the first game of the preseason versus last year it seems like the Cowboys brass might feel the same way.

With this topic rearing its head forward once more it’s time to get the temperature of the room. What do you think, BTB? Where are you on Rico?