Cowboys Adding Superstar Tight End Urged by Insider

FRISCO - Want a test for whether the Dallas Cowboys will truly use the upcoming NFL Draft to pick for "need'' vs. simply taking the BPA (Best Player Available)?

Look no farther than tight end.

On the one hand, Dallas has some talent in that room ... and has invested in adding more.

The 2025 season will see new head coach Brian Schottenheimer and his coaching staff trying to get the most out of a player who has made a Pro Bowl appearance during his time in Jake Ferguson.

He is coming off a season detailed by injuries, includiing a concussion, and in the end, Ferguson didn't catch a touchdown and only managed 494 yards from 59 receptions in 14 games.

Now Ferguson is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and after a superb 2023 season that saw the "Big Biscuit" total 761 yards and five touchdowns, he and his team could use a bounce-back season featuring those sort of numbers.

Meanwhile, the guy drafted to replace him, Luke Schoonmaker, is now entering his third year as a second-round pick ... and it is fair to say Schoonmaker hasn't lived up to his draft position.

Part of that has been his injuries, too. Luke did not participate in all of Dallas' offseason workouts in his first two years, which has put him behind the eight ball.

Schoonamaker did show flashes last season when Ferguson went down, having a run for three games that saw him total 55, 56, and 33 receiving yards and a touchdown from a combined 14 receptions.

But once Ferguson returned, Schoonmaker's production dropped and in his last five games, he only totaled 41 yards from five receptions.

The Cowboys, under Schottenheimer, need him once again to be a viable option in the pass game. Last season, Ferguson totaled under 25 receiving yards eight times, and that can't happen again ...

Unless Dallas goes in another direction.

Tyler Warren has been mocked as a top-10 guy, and the Penn State star is undeniably a beast in the passing game, boasting 1,233 yards and eight touchdowns from 104 receptions in 2024.

He's 6-6, 260 and scout Dane Brugler has him as the 10th best player in the this draft.

From out beat writer Mike Fisher: "That sort of production is what the Cowboys would like, but at pick No. 12, is tight end a position viewed as being unworthy of that high of a pick? Does Dallas think Ferguson (for one more year before he goes free) is sufficient ... before "Schoony'' takes over?

"If Dallas is going to 'stay true to its board,' Tyler Warren at 12 merits consideration.''

The Cowboys tight end room has bodies and promise. Maybe that's enough to not even entertain this idea.

Or ... if Dallas' board has Warren as, say, the eighth best player in the NFL Draft, and he's still available - and ranked higher than others - do the Cowboys "Stay True to The Board'' and select a guy who on paper is far more talented that the guys presently on the room?