{"id":189069,"date":"2024-09-10T11:00:35","date_gmt":"2024-09-10T15:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=189069"},"modified":"2026-03-19T20:22:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T00:22:25","slug":"jake-ferguson-injury-cowboys-tight-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/09\/10\/jake-ferguson-injury-cowboys-tight-ends\/","title":{"rendered":"Jake Ferguson’s Injury Provides Huge Opportunity for Cowboys Tight Ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Sunday\u2019s game against the Cleveland Browns<\/a>, Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson went down with an injury later determined to be an MCL sprain<\/a>. <\/span>Although the possibility of Ferguson returning this season is high, it might not be for a few games. With the Ravens, Steelers,<\/a> and Lions looming over the Cowboys soon, how can they prepare at tight end?<\/span><\/p>\n

Jake Ferguson\u2019s Injury Opens Up Big Opportunities for Cowboys Tight Ends<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ferguson\u2019s Fellow Tight Ends<\/strong><\/p>\n

The tight-end room in Dallas is relatively shallow. All of the players have been playing for fewer than 3 years. This is Ferguson<\/a>\u2019s third season with the Cowboys and he\u2019s had a lot of upward potential going for him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, Ferguson had the second most receiving yards right after CeeDee Lamb<\/a>, collecting 761 yards. He also has an incredible reception to target rate at just under 70%. <\/span>In the 2023 draft, the Cowboys brought in Luke Schoonmaker. Although he had some playing time last season, Ferguson ended up taking over as the veteran player and showing star potential. <\/span>The Cowboys acquired John Stephens Jr.<\/a> and Brevyn Spann-Ford in the offseason and signed them to the team, so they\u2019re new to the squad as well<\/span><\/p>\n

Stephens Jr. with Hamstring Issues<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Even more concerning than Ferguson\u2019s injury is the lack of depth behind him. Stephens Jr. was reported with a hamstring injury and was out in the previous game against the Browns. <\/span>Stephens Jr. provides some versatility to Ferguson\u2019s play style. He\u2019s smaller, which means he is shifty and fast.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s also an excellent catcher, having a standout game specifically against the Chargers, going 3 receptions for 40 yards, with an explosive 24-yard carry. Not to mention that he didn\u2019t miss a single targeted pass in preseason, going 8\/8 overall. <\/span>If he can come back from his hamstring injury, it can be something special for the Cowboys.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shooting the Shot with Schoonmaker<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Schoonmaker is 2nd on the <\/span>unofficial depth chart<\/span><\/a> for the Cowboys primarily due to familiarity. The Cowboys know Schoonmaker since he\u2019s played on the squad for a year already and therefore, he\u2019s the most likely to take over if Ferguson is out long-term. <\/span>In the preseason, Schoonmaker did average, collecting 2\/3 receptions in the Raiders game as well as the Chargers game, for 13 and 14 yards respectively.\u00a0<\/span>The biggest need for Schoonmaker is to show more power. However, if he\u2019s lacking in that department, there\u2019s always Spann-Ford.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Powerful Tight End<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A film for Brevyn Spann-Ford from college at Minnesota<\/span><\/a> shows him powering through several people, needing multiple defensive players to take him to the ground.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Where Schoonmaker could be similar to Ferguson, it\u2019s Spann-Ford<\/a>\u2019s pure power and dominance that could make him a great tight end.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not to mention Spann-Ford is the biggest tight end in the room, a monstrous 6\u2019 7\u201d and 270 lbs. When compared to the other tight ends, Spann-Ford has 36 lbs on Ferguson, 20 lbs on Schoonmaker, and nearly 50 on Stephens Jr. At this size, Spann-Ford is rather slow in his running after the catch, but his power carries him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spann-Ford did pretty well in preseason too, with 2\/2 receptions for 13 yards against the Rams. Although he went 0\/1 against the Raiders, in the game against the Chargers, Spann-Ford was 3\/4 for 28 yards.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the Cowboys are looking for a different alternative to Ferguson\u2019s swift and shifty plays, Spann-Ford could present that for them.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Good News About Jake Ferguson\u2019s Injury<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Because Ferguson\u2019s injury is only a sprain, the Cowboys don\u2019t have to worry about him being out more than a few weeks. But this time is a great opportunity for the young guys who are fighting for the ability to stand out of their shadow. <\/span>And we\u2019ll soon get to see if they\u2019re able to do just that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo: [Scott Gal] – USA Today Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jake Ferguson’s MCL sprain opens doors for some of his fellow tight ends. The future could be bright for a few of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5238,"featured_media":189104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,19,34308,36],"tags":[32332,8880,10339,9857,32048],"class_list":["post-189069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-cowboys","category-injuries","category-nfl-news","tag-brevyn-spann-ford","tag-jake-ferguson","tag-john-stephens-jr","tag-luke-schoonmaker","tag-nfl-injuries"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189069"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":269776,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189069\/revisions\/269776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}