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The Cowboys made a move in free agency, obviously not the ones that many fans are waiting on, but a move nonetheless. The Cowboys have finally decided on their starting tight end of the future, and that player is Blake Jarwin.
There were many fans that wanted to see more of Jarwin last season as he proved to be a more dynamic receiving target than long-time veteran Jason Witten. This year, they should get their wish. There does seem to be some confusion about Jarwin’s contract as many fans are stating that he’s getting $8 million a year largely based on this tweet.
The #Cowboys are signing TE Blake Jarwin to a 3-year extension worth up to $24.25M, sources tell me and @MikeGarafolo. He gets $9.25M guaranteed.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 16, 2020
This is actually an extension that runs the contract for a total of four years. Salary cap site Spotrac.com says this:
Blake Jarwin signed a 4 year, $22,000,000 contract with the Dallas Cowboys, including a $4,000,000 signing bonus, $9,250,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $5,500,000. In 2020, Jarwin will earn a base salary of $2,250,000 and a signing bonus of $4,000,000, while carrying a cap hit of $3,250,000 and a dead cap value of $6,250,000.
The yearly breakdown looks something like this:
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So while the initial report looked like a pretty huge contract for what Jarwin had actually accomplished on the field, the actual details show a different picture. Still, it’s likely the Cowboys made this move for Jarwin to be the number one tight end. It’s unlikely that they would bring back Jason Witten because if Witten is back, he’ll want to play. He surely won’t sign to be on the bench and he doesn’t have any special teams upside.
A betting man would say this puts an end to Jason Witten’s career as a Cowboy.