Cowboys TE Dalton Schultz Adds to Dak Prescott 'Mess' in Second Half of Season

As the Dallas Cowboys enjoy their Week 9 bye, they continue to take stock into their performance on both sides of the ball.

Despite compiling a 6-2 record, and earning the third-place spot there are plenty of areas in which the Cowboys will seek improvement.

While Dallas has seen its share of standout performers both on offense and defense, tight end Dalton Schultz has largely underperformed for much of the season.

After setting career-highs in nearly every offensive category in 2021, a nagging knee injury has held him to just 20 catches for 203 yards and zero touchdowns through six games thus far.

However, Schultz’s performance in the team’s 49-29 victory over the Chicago Bears in Week 8 provided significant hope that he may be primed for a resurgence in the second half of the season.

Schultz caught six of the seven passes thrown his way for 74 yards. The 26-year-old had his best drive of the game midway through the third quarter, when he managed 30- and 14-yard catches on consecutive plays to help set up a touchdown run for running back Tony Pollard. Most importantly, he was moving with greater ease, allowing him to turn in his best performance of the season. In fact, Schultz now has 11 receptions for 123 yards combined across his last two games.

Should this be a sign of things to come, Dallas’ high-powered offense may be getting even stronger - a "real mess,'' as owner Jerry Jones said, meaning a "mess'' for the opposition to deal with.

The 6-5, 244-pound tight end is at his best when utilizing the intermediate area of the field, particularly against teams with difficulty defending it. Schultz is successful when finding space sitting down in soft zones, as well as utilizing flat combinations. When teams attempt to neutralize the middle of the field by taking away slot targets underneath, he often finds room to operate in some catch-and-run situations over the middle.

When the ball is not headed his way, Schultz has also worked and stepped up his blocking game on the edge, especially improving upon sealing his blocks. In most circumstances, he is well-positioned to be a problematic player to defend for any team.

While Schultz was already expected to be a notable weapon for quarterback Dak Prescott in the red zone, any deficiency in opposing team’s secondaries allows him the opportunity to maneuver in the middle of the field, as well. With star wideout CeeDee Lamb often drawing the attention from opposing perimeter corners, wideout Michael Gallup has commanded the attention from remaining members of the secondary, namely slot corners and even safeties. If Schultz is given room to make plays in the open field, defenses will surely pay the price. Therefore, Prescott would be smart to utilize him in this fashion, as well as in short-yardage scoring situations heading into the season’s home stretch.

Dallas is proud of how it has developed the two rookie tight ends, Jake Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot. (See rookie grades here). But there is a reason the Cowboys tagged Schultz and were comfortable with paying him $11 million ... and those reasons can continue to reveal themselves.

Schultz and the Cowboys will be back in action at 4:25 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13 as they travel to Wisconsin to take on quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.

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