Ferguson has developed into a reliable target for Dak Prescott, but after his 2025 season, do the Cowboys need more from him?
Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson had an up-and-down season in review, as he had career highs in some stats and career lows in others.
Playing all 17 games (starting 10), Ferguson would end the season with 600 yards and 8 TDs from a whopping 82 receptions.
Ferguson got his touchdown groove back after not having one for the entire 2024 season, but the big knock on Jake last season was his yards per reception.
A career-low 7.3 yards per catch meant that Ferguson wasn't doing much after the catch. Still, that can be overlooked for how dominant he was in the red zone.
But what about the expectations for Ferguson in 2026?
105.3 The Fan's Shan Shariff and Bobby Belt had this discussion with Shariff stating "need more, expecting more" from Ferguson.
As for Belt, while he acknowledged that Ferguson has all the right intangibles for Brian Schottenheimer's culture as far as attitude, locker room presence, leadership, you name it, he wouldn't be opposed to another tight end coming in as a more vertical threat on some snaps.
"I want him here, I'm glad he's here, but I wouldn't be mad if they had somebody split in snaps with him as a more vertical threat," Belt said.
And wouldn't you know it, the Cowboys got themselves one in undrafted free agent Michael Trigg.
An athletic freak, Trigg, if he can get his reported off-field issues under control, could be a potential player that Ferguson splits snaps with.
With Brevy Spann-Ford and Luke Schoonmaker the other tight ends on the roster, could either of them be that vertical threat Belt is talking about?
Well, Spann-Ford, in his limited offensive snaps, averaged 10.0 yards per reception on his nine catches, so maybe the Cowboys could see more of Spann-Ford in a pass-catching capacity instead of a blocker?
Even Schoonmaker averaged 9.4 yards per reception last season, but he, along with Spann-Ford, isn't the overall tight end package that Ferguson is.
Do the Cowboys need someone like a Trigg to be that vertical threat in the middle of the field, that Ferguson was early in his career?
Or could the "big biscuit" rediscover that key element in his game that made his connection with Dak borderline unstoppable just a couple of seasons ago?
Either way, it's going to be an interesting offseason for the tight end room.