The long overdue headline “Rico Gathers cut from the Dallas Cowboys” has arrived with mixed reactions among Cowboys fans. Despite being a 6th round pick with limited football experience, fans were excited about the potential of the former basketball player to emerge as a mismatch in the passing game. It was worth a roll of the dice at that point in the draft but fast forward 3 years later and it is apparent that the Dallas Cowboys probably should have cut ties sooner.
When the Dallas Cowboys did draft Gathers it reminded many fans of former Cowboy Martellus Bennett. Bennett was unsuccessful in Dallas being overshadowed by Jason Witten but then went on to do great things in New York, Chicago, and New England. Cowboy fans were fearful, and some still are, that history would repeat itself if the Cowboys never gave Rico Gathers a fair shot at making the team and earning playing time. To be fair, Bennett was a much more polished player compared to Rico who had no experience outside of high school football. The learning curve for Rico Gathers was much higher than it was for Bennett. Ultimately, it could be argued that the Rico Gathers experiment may have worked for another team, but he was destined to fail with the Dallas Cowboys.
Historically, Jason Garrett and the rest of the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff are not considered the most innovative or creative bunch. You would expect a Bill Belichick, a Sean Payton, or an Andy Reid to transform a basketball player with limited football IQ but rare size and athleticism into a unstoppable red zone target. The Cowboys coaches however, will try to take raw talent and transform it into something that suits their system rather than adjust their strategies to align with the strengths of their personnel. Gathers to the Cowboys with Witten still on the roster did not seem like a match made in heaven.
Predictably, the Cowboys tried to mold Gathers into the player they wanted him to be. They tried to develop him into a great blocker, they tried to teach him fundamentals, and learn the nuances of the playbook in order to fit their system. For a guy that hadn’t played football at the college level, this was going to be a tall order with little chance of success. Regardless the Cowboys gave it a shot and took their time with Gathers. They carried him on the practice squad in 2016 and in 2017 it appeared he was ready to take the next step when he made some big plays in the preseason. Then, a major setback occurred…Rico suffered a concussion in practice and was placed on IR. That concussion seemed to linger for a lot longer than expected. I still believe to this day that his extended IR leave had more to do with buying time for him while not usurping a roster spot amid the Ezekiel Elliott suspension scandal. That is based purely on conjecture of course but it remains my firm belief. Even still despite that setback, the love for Rico Gathers was strong among Cowboys faithful spurred on by that magical 2017 pre-season.
In 2018, most Cowboy fans were in Rico’s corner until he was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana a day before final roster cuts would be announced for the upcoming season. That scandal would surely cost Gathers a spot on the team, so I thought. Much to my surprise, the Cowboys ended up keeping 4 tight ends on the roster and Rico Gathers was one of them. It probably would have been wise to cut ties then and there but the Dallas Cowboys tried to hang on to the Rico Gathers dream and they cut players at several positions that could have helped the team such as defensive line, running back, cornerback, and safety.
It all seemed to go down hill from there. On the field, Gathers did not receive many opportunities to play and when he did it was often in blocking situations. Gathers also failed to shine in his limited opportunities as a receiver. Prescott missed him on a sure touchdown earlier in the year but he also had a terrible drop in the divisional round playoff loss to the Rams. Off the field, things did not bode well for Gathers either. His side gig as a rapper known as “Rickadon” led to criticism from several fans. Although he is not the only professional athlete to engage in other endeavours outside of sports, when it is reported that you are struggling to learn the playbook and develop your craft it is not a good look. On social media, Gathers consistently engages with fans and says things like this…
Then throw in the one game suspension to start this season and it is a small wonder that Gathers was still on the roster up until now.
The writing was on the wall as soon as the Cowboys resigned Jason Witten. Blake Jarwin and Dalton Shultz have both improved from the beginning of last season until now while Rico Gathers has not. There is still a large contingent of Cowboys fans upset that Gathers was waived. They believe that another team will maximize his talents and that the Cowboys will regret the decision. I do not anticipate that happening at this point. The Dallas Cowboys have played a part in ruining Rico Gathers football career and Rico Gathers was the other party responsible. If he does defy the odds and if he does become successful with another team, you won’t hear me complaining about it. At the end of the day, he was not going to succeed in Dallas and there are too few roster spots to waste on a fourth tight end who will rarely see the field.
*Photograph from www.flickr.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode