Shop and Compare: The Dollars on Raiders' Witten vs. Cowboys' Jarwin
FRISCO - We're going to work on the assumption that Blake Jarwin and Jason Witten would not be entirely comfortable with an exercise that pits them against one another contractually.
Yes, they were pitted against one another for playing time in 2019, the mentor (Witten) and the pupil (Jarwin) and in the end maybe the competition was rigged, as Dallas Cowboys sources inside The Star tell us they attempted to dissuade then-coach Jason Garrett (and maybe owner Jerry Jones, too) from what ended up happening ...
Witten played 85 percent of the snaps. Jarwin played 35 percent of the snaps - literally the exact reversal of what some staffers preferred.
They're no longer teammates, and as Jarwin's growth as a player is surely in part the result of learning from the future Hall-of-Famer Witten, we'll assume they are both happy for one another now.
Witten didn't quite get what he wanted; another year in Dallas for him wasn't in new coach Mike McCarthy's plan, something that was clear from the offseason start. But he gets to keep playing (even though the Las Vegas Raiders seem to employ one or maybe even two tight ends who seem superior to him.)
Jarwin finally does get what he wanted, a full opportunity to blossom as the first-team tight end. And if that works out as planned - as it relates to the dollars-and-sense of this decision, especially?
Dallas will end up being ecstatic despite the pain of saying goodbye to an icon.
Jarwin this week was given a three-year contract extension - so a total four-year deal - worth a base of $22 million. That's an APY of $5.5 million, which is one important number here. But also key: In 2020, Jarwin's base is $2.25 mil and his cap hit is $3.25 mil.
Meanwhile, Witten, spurned by Dallas, turned to the Raiders, who gobbled up Cowboys defenders Maliek Collins and Jeff Heath, too, a headine-grabber featuring a deal for Witten that will likely pay him $4.75 million.
Yes, owner Jones recently said, “I would hope that (Witten) would not ever be anything but a Cowboy.'' But by the time McCarthy interjected his football opinion on the situation and by time Stephen Jones' Big Calculator guys did the same?
Jarwin at a cap hit of $3.25 mil is a ridiculous bargain against Witten's $4.75. Really, it's easy to project that Jarwin's on-field numbers for the near future will at least mirror Witten's recent production, meaning that Jarwin's $5.5 mil APY over the course of the next four years is also a ridiculous bargain compared to Witten.
The iconic status of Jason Witten in Dallas will never change, and shouldn't. But the playing-time status? That is changing now, a year too late, but changing nevertheless. And the finances and talents of Blake Jarwin, in the end, make this an easy call.
