In 2023, Jake Ferguson became the Dallas Cowboys' top tight end. However, don't expect him to sit back heading into his third season.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72733600/1717033076.0.jpg)
"To me, I think I'm not even scratching my surface," Ferguson told ESPN's Todd Archer. "There's so many things that I want to get better at and I know I can get better at. We watch film every day of different games, even the practices we're doing now and I'm like, 'OK, I can get a lot better still.'"
Ferguson is intensifying his offseason regimen to raise his game. Archer noted he's bulking up from 252 pounds to improve his run blocking and attending throwing sessions with quarterback Dak Prescott.
He also participated in Tight End University, a program founded by former NFL player Greg Olsen, San Francisco's George Kittle and Kansas City's Travis Kelce.
"Obviously, you see the jump he made from Year 1 to Year 2," Prescott said, via Archer. "And he's improved his intensity in his preparation just in this offseason — the way he's treated his body, the way that he's been communicating with me throughout the offseason, whether it's catching and throwing, he's a big-time playmaker for this team, this offense."
In 17 games last season, Ferguson logged 71 receptions for 761 yards and five touchdown catches, earning his first Pro Bowl nod. If the 25-year-old generates better numbers in 2024, it will make the Cowboys passing attack — which finished third in the league in passing yards last season (4,397) — even stronger.
Jake Ferguson on a LBer down the seam is lunch without safety help.
— Patrik [No C] Walker (@VoiceOfTheStar) October 30, 2023
Dak releases the ball with a hand in his face in time to get it over the LB but too quickly for safety to tap in.
Fergy full extension + soft hands.
Touchdown.
EXECUTION, folks. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/zQ6ZE1381H
The Cowboys have been looking for a star TE since the franchise's all-time receptions leader, Jason Witten, retired in 2021. The future Hall of Famer seems to believe Ferguson is on the right track.
"I think he can do it all," Witten said of Ferguson, per Archer. "He's a willing blocker. He can bend. ... Looks like he's smart. He's got great chemistry with Dak. Good charisma. He can run. He understands separation. So I think now seeing himself do it, here's where the growth comes."
