NFL Training Camp: 10 most intriguing battles in 2023

#7, Dallas Cowboys – Tight-end depth chart

Candidates: Jake Ferguson, Peyton Hendershot & Luke Schoonmaker

NFL Training Camp: 10 most intriguing battles in 2023

This is less about who’ll start Week 1 or be in the lineup most, but rather how they look at that entire room and how playing time will be divided. Dalton Schultz of course led this group in snaps, catches, yards and touchdowns each of the last three years, but he moved in-state to the Texans as a free agent this offseason.

Jake Ferguson finished second across those categories last season as a fourth-round pick out of Wisconsin, who had a highly consistent career with the Badgers. As a rookie, he caught 19 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns, while a late-season concussion cost him a couple of games.

Despite an average depth of target of just 3.5 yards, he finished 12th in yards per route run among TEs with 10+ targets. This was thanks in large part to better juice once the ball is in his hands than I might’ve given him credit for and good power to drive forward through contact, as he averaged 6.5 YAC (which was right in line with George Kittle last season for reference).

He also didn’t drop any passes. However, his strengths as a run-blocker that I saw in college as a traditional Y didn’t quite show up, being tied for 68th in PFF run-blocking grade, where he has room to grow in terms of latching his hands and transferring force.

Tied with Ferguson in that metric was actually Peyton Hendershot, who was third in line for Dallas, but still logged just under 300 snaps as a rookie UDFA. He caught 11 of 16 targets for 103 yards and two TDs, along with getting into the end-zone from a couple of yards out once when he took a jet sweep from under center.

Once again, he's not an overpowering blocker, but crafty in terms of the way he releases off the line of scrimmage. He was used more down the field on wheel routes a few times and showed that he can hold onto the ball through contact on a couple of occasions. He’s probably best off the line as a wing or detached as the number three in trips working down the seams.

And then there’s Luke Schoonmaker, who they drafted 58th overall this year. This was/is a super solid prospect I thought, who has quality experience in a diverse, pro-style rushing attack at Michigan. He didn’t necessarily blow people off the spot, but you saw him seal on the back side, pin guys to get out to the corner, kick out, wrap around as a lead-blocker and more.

In the passing game, he has solid burst off the ball, but it’s his ability to drop his hips and cleanly get out of his breaks, along with having some wiggle to him at the top of the route to make defenders freeze their feet, which stood out to me. He understands how to pace himself and sit down against zone coverage, shows strong hands and consistently gains positive yardage by getting vertical.

I think a powerful edge defender could overwhelm him a little bit at the point of attack and he didn’t offer much of a vertical component or make people miss after the catch.

Going back to the 2022 Cowboys offense, all three of the guys had to be on the field quite a bit, because they were their most effective out of 12 personnel (and even though we don’t know exactly what Mike McCarthy taking over the offense would look like, considering his background, that could be very similar).

The one thing that may sway that a little bit is having picked up a fullback as a UDFA (who I really like and I actually broke down in a written piece after the draft), and how I think he could fit into that unit. Regardless, we should see heavy personnel quite regularly and all three names get time on the field.

With that being said, I would give Ferguson the slight edge over Schoonmaker right now, with Hendershot as a solid third option. Since he has more of a prototypical frame and a year in what should at least remain a fairly similar system, Ferguson appears most likely to be in the starting eleven once the season rolls around.

However, when they get to obvious passing situations, the rookie may be the preferred option, because he’s a more skilled route-runner in space. How much Brandin Cooks being brought in to make that personnel grouping more effective will be key in how they approach this, but once again, I look at this tight-end room as a three-headed monster, if you want to call it that, where all of them can bring somewhat similar skill-sets to the table.