The Giants recently hired former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett as their new offensive coordinator, and another longtime Cowboy could be joining Garrett in the Meadowlands. Per ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, the Giants could look to sign tight end Jason Witten when free agency opens in March (Twitter link).
Witten has spent his entire career in Dallas, and after a one-year stint in the Monday Night Football broadcast booth in 2018, he rejoined the club in 2019. The 37-year-old showed he still has something left in the tank, posting 63 catches for 529 yards and four touchdowns.
Witten recently indicated that he is open to continuing his playing career in 2020, and the Giants could certainly use him. Although Big Blue will have Evan Engram at the top of its depth chart, it couldn’t hurt to have a reliable security blanket like Witten for second-year QB Daniel Jones.
Engram missed the second half of the 2019 season due to injury, and the Giants turned to sixth-round rookie Kaden Smith in his stead. Smith posted 31 catches for 268 yards and three scores, not bad for a rookie TE who was claimed off waivers in September, but perhaps not enough to preclude a one-year deal with Witten.
Garrett joined the Cowboys in 2007, so Witten played under him for 12 years. Dallas will almost certainly offer Witten a better chance than New York to capture a Super Bowl ring in 2020, so that consideration may trump his familiarity with, and respect for, Garrett. Indeed, Mortensen says there is no real clarity on Witten’s future at this point (Twitter link).
No stinkin way. Don’t do it Wit…
If E Smith can leave at the end of his career, why not Wit? Time for the team to move on.
I hop he goes to the Giants
Why would Dallas offer a better chance at a ring? They couldn’t beat 1 above 500 team.
didnt they beat the rams?
Because they’re a better team. Pretty simple.
I don’t see it. I could possibly see him playing elsewhere for a year or two before retiring for good, but not for the Giants. Not for anyone in the NFC East.
That’s the fan in you. His coach is there and if they give him best offer to play it won’t matter the name on the helmet
That may be true, but he’s said a handful of times that he’s loyal to the star, and couldn’t see himself in another uniform. Garrett on the other hand has ties with the Giants.
I seem to recall another 37 yr old recently saying he only had loyalty to the Ravens…but he seems to have a Chiefs uniform on today.
Right. Once the team they are loyal to no longer wants them it changes.
Your loyal to your wife until she divorces you and married another guy. Do you stay single or find new loyalty?
Depends on which wife
Has anyone watched Witten play? He is old and slow and plays that way. It was weird how the Cowboys tried to force the ball to him. This is not coming from a Cowboy or a Giants fan.
He had a wonderful career, even without a SB win, but someone needs to tell him he’s done. His performance says so.
I agree with you…surely he would retire before following Clappy to NY.
2019; 63 receptions 579 yards for touchdowns. Not bad for a “old guy“
His stats suggest there’s a little something left in him. I say keep playing until he wants to stop, or they make him. This idea that he’s old and slow seems to stem more from the numbers on his birth certificate than what he did on the field.
I’m a Giants fan and do not want them to get Jason Witten for a variety of reasons. However, if it keeps him out of the booth, they should offer him a ten year deal.
I second this notion.
People like you give Giants fans a terrible name. First, Jason was excellent in the commentary booth very insightful. Second, for a guy who missed an entire year came back and had 63 catchers 579 yards for touchdowns that is offense of production the Giants would have killed to have on the tight end position this past season. My advice to you is learn more about the sport before running your mouth.
Hey, Dallas fan here. You are probably the only person on earth who believes Witten was excellent in the booth. I do believe if Jason was truly excellent in the booth as you say, he wouldn’t have came out of retirement. Second, much of the those stats you mentioned was a result of Garrett and Moore forcing the ball to Witten. While Witten was being forced feed the ball it halted the development of our younger TEs on the team. Witten needs to stay retired though I would love him (and Garrett) in NY or Philly or Washington. So far it looks like NY
Can’t agree much with what you have said about Whitten….first of all, he was pretty awful in the booth, with nothing coming naturally and forcing conversation non-stop which is why he went back on to the field.
Secondly, the Giants offense isn’t built about the tight end, like much of Dallas’ offense is featuring Whitten when he was spry, fast and young…..certainly his production this season, which was a testament to his abilities, would have helped the Giants, but it wouldn’t have added up to more wins this season. Maybe, you should stop before you ridicule others for their opinion and stop running your mouth goldenmisfit!
@Goldenmisfit: “Second, for a guy who missed an entire year came back and had 63 catchers 579 yards for touchdowns that is offense of production the Giants would have killed to have on the tight end position this past season.”
Dallas TEs this year had 94 receptions for 894 yards and 7 TDs.
Giants TEs this year had 95 receptions for 913 yards and 7 TDs.
Please don’t tell me how the Giants “would have killed to have” the TE production of the Cowboys when they already did.
Excellent in the booth? Not sure what you were listening to then. His analysis was either wildly ridiculous (to the point that you questioned if he was even watching the same game) or blatantly obvious that most normal fans could also point out and wasn’t something that really needed to be said.
The main thing is that he wasn’t providing any value to the broadcast. To me, it was clear that he wasn’t putting a significant amount of time watching tape (something that plenty of broadcasters still do when preparing for their next cast) and that he didn’t really have any insightful breakdown of plays. His commentary was often “this guy ran the ball” or “this quarterback threw the ball to his receiver”. He doesn’t need to be Tony Romo in the booth but he needed to be something more than a guy watching a football game.
I’m fine with it because we need to move on. He’s slow and his immobility hurts his blocking as well. Let Jarwin see the field.