Jake Ferguson seems to be in store for a big season.
The Dallas Cowboys took tight end Jake Ferguson in the fourth round in 2022 as a backup to Dalton Schultz. There were flashes in his limited opportunities that first season as he produced two touchdowns and 174 yards on 19 receptions. By his second year, Schultz was gone, and the keys to the tight end room were placed in his hands. He responded with a breakout campaign with 71 catches for 761 yards and five touchdowns, placing himself firmly in the upper level of the hierarchy at his position.
As he enters his third season, Ferguson is expected to make another leap in his trajectory. And that’s not just coming from the media or the Cowboys' fan base, but from Ferguson himself.
“I need to make that exact same jump [as last year], but make it even bigger,” Ferguson said via the team’s official website. “In this league, you can’t get complacent. You’ve got to keep getting better, and that’s what I intend to do. We’ve got great vets in our facility — Brandin [Cooks] and Dak [Prescott] — and they teach you how to take care of your body and how to take care of your mind as you start to get older.
“I’m 25 and I’m like, ‘Ooh, I am kinda getting old for a football player.’ I’ve got to start making those strides and get better every year.”
Dallas has a history of great tight end play.
Hall of Famer Mike Ditka played for the Cowboys for four seasons (1969-1972) and was a member of their first Super Bowl squad. In the 1990s, Jay Novacek was the head honcho of the tight end position during their run of three Super Bowl titles in four years. Then, of course, there's the future Hall of Famer, Jason Witten. He took the standard to another level for what a tight should be in Dallas as he ranks second all-time in receptions (1,228) and yards (13,046) for the position and fifth in touchdowns (74).
For Ferguson to reach that type of level, it will require consistent hard work and dedication, which is something Cowboys' tight end coach Lunda Wells mentioned.
“He had a good year last year, but can you do it again?” said Wells. “The legends and the great players do it consistently over the years — Jason Witten, Travis Kelce, Tony Gonzalez — you can go down the list — the great ones do it consistently every year. You can’t be one and done or a one-hit wonder, because those get lost.
“If you wanna be great, you’ve gotta do it every year, consistently, and I think that’s the challenge he understands. And that’s the best thing: he understands that. … [He] set the standard last year, now let’s make sure we do it even better, like the great ones do.”
Ferguson was able to take the next step in 2023 due to working so close with Wells on all the nuances of playing tight end. If he wants to exceed what he did last season, which he said he does, he'll need to keep that same work ethic.
"I think just my consistency, you know, with my prep," Ferguson said in May. "I think coach Wells and I do a great job of, you know, when it's special teams period or maybe there isn't enough time in a practice and we'll stay together after practice and just work on the little things. Tracking the ball with your eyes, watching the ball hit your hands, your footwork, all the little things, both in the receiving and the blocking game. And then also off the field stuff. Just making sure my focus was purely on football, and I think that helped me focus a lot more on what I was doing each game and how to get better every time."
If history is any indication, Ferguson will have another big year in 2024.
