Inside The Star
The Dallas Cowboys kept three tight ends on the roster in 2025. All three of them did something not seen from the tight end room since 2020.
All three stayed healthy and played in every regular season game.
The recently concluded season was also the first since 2020 when the Cowboys only needed three tight ends for the entire year.
The three players – Jake Ferguson, Luke Schoonmaker, and Brevyn Spann-Ford – even managed to total 22 starts. The Cowboys’ offense juggled its starting lineup weekly, leading to five games started with two tight ends on the field.
With all three signed for the 2026 season, the Cowboys are set at tight end. Hopefully, they won’t spend one of their draft picks in April on another one.
Here’s how the trio did in 2025.
Ferguson is signed through the end of the 2029 season. He matched his career high in targets with 102 and set a career high with 82 catches.
While his receiving yards, 600, was 161 yards short of his 2023 career high, Ferguson set a career high in touchdowns with eight this year.
Ferguson did play in all 17 games, but only started in 10. But that was more scheme than any injury holding him back.
He did start the year off strong, with nine catches for 78 yards against the Giants and 13 receptions for 82 yards against the Bears the following week.
Ferguson had multiple touchdown games against the Jets and the Commanders in the first meeting between the NFC East rivals.
The second-round draft pick in 2023 regressed slightly from his 2024 numbers this year.
Schoonmaker will be an unrestricted free agent after the 2026 season. He may be playing to save his spot on the roster beyond this fall.
In 2025, he finished with 14 catches for 132 yards and no touchdowns.
Schoonmaker had only three games with more than a single catch, getting just two receptions in all three of them. He had a single game high of 29 yards against Minnesota and those all came on one reception.
Schoonmaker was held without a catch in six games and wasn’t targeted in three. With Spann-Ford’s better blocking skills, and emergence as a receiver, Schoonmaker will be feeling the heat this year.
Spann-Ford was an undrafted free agent in 2024 and has suited up to play in all 34 games since making the roster last year.
Like Schoonmaker, he is signed through the end of this upcoming season. However, he will be a restricted free agent.
Making it much easier for the Cowboys to keep him.
Spann-Ford earned five starts in 2025 and finished with nine catches for 90 yards and a touchdown.
But his value to the team lies more in his blocking in the run game. If he continues to progress, he not only should be TE2 this fall, he should punch Schoonmaker’s ticket out of town.
