Last offseason, the Dallas Cowboys lost their starting tight end in free agency, as they allowed Dalton Schultz to leave for a deal with the Houston Texans. In Schultz's place, Dallas turned to 2022 fourth-round pick Jake Ferguson, who had just 19 catches for 174 yards and two touchdowns to his name at the time.
The gamble paid off, with Ferguson emerging throughout the 2023 season as Dak Prescott's top non-CeeDee Lamb target. He caught 71 passes for 761 yards and five touchdowns, with each of those figures ranking in the top 10 among tight ends league wide. But Ferguson thinks he has even more room to get better.
"To me, I think I'm not even scratching my surface," Ferguson said, via ESPN. "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.'"
Two people who agree with him: Prescott, and head coach Mike McCarthy.
"Jake has so much more to give," McCarthy said.
"Obviously you see the jump he made from Year 1 to Year 2," Prescott added. "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."
Ferguson will now enter the season as something of a co-No. 2 option alongside Brandin Cooks, and after the Cowboys lost passing-game contributors like Michael Gallup and Tony Pollard, he may be counted on for even more than he was a year ago. So, he will have to improve as much as he thinks he can for the Cowboys to not miss a beat offensively. And that's where his focus is.
"In this league you can't be complacent," Ferguson said. "You've got to just keep going. You've got to keep getting better and that's what I aim to do."
