Rico Gathers

NFL Workout Updates: 10/25/19

We’ll keep track of today’s workouts here:

Houston Texans

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

Washington Redskins

NFL Workout Notes: 10/8/19

Here are today’s workout updates. There are a number of notable names on this list, so pay attention!

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

New England Patriots

Oakland Raiders

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Redskins

Browns Waive TE Rico Gathers

The Browns will waive tight end Rico Gathers, according to ESPN’s Tony Grossi (on Twitter). Gathers was suspended for the first game of the season, but the Browns did not feel the need to drop someone else on the 53-man roster to bring him back into the fold for Week 2.

The Browns picked up Gathers off waivers from the Cowboys in August, giving them a potential depth option behind starter David Njoku. The former Baylor basketball player has upside, but he’s yet to really do much at the pro level.

Last year, Gathers appeared in 15 games (four starts) for Dallas. He caught just three passes for 45 yards.

The league’s other 31 teams will have an opportunity to pick up Gathers on the waiver wire over the next 24 hours or so. If Gathers clears waivers, he’ll be free to sign with any team.

Browns Sign Rico Gathers

The Browns have signed TE Rico Gathers, as Mark Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reports (via Twitter). In a related move, the club has waived FB/TE Orson Charles.

The Cowboys waived Gathers last week, and Cleveland is taking a low-risk gamble on Gathers’ athletic upside. Dallas selected the former Baylor basketball player in the sixth round of the 2016 draft, but Gathers spent his entire rookie campaign on the practice squad and the entirety of his second professional season on IR.

He finally saw regular season action last year, and though he appeared in 15 games (four starts), he caught only three passes for 45 yards. With Jason Witten back on the team and fellow tight ends Blake Jarwin and Dalton Schultz ahead of Gathers on the depth chart, the Cowboys decided to cut ties.

But the Browns have very little depth behind starter David Njoku. Though Gathers will be suspended for the first week of the season due to a violation of the league’s substance abuse policy, he should have a chance to earn meaningful playing time in Cleveland.

Charles, 28, appeared in 13 games and made two starts for the Browns in 2018. He saw action on 173 offensive plays, the most snaps he had played since his rookie campaign with the Bengals in 2012

Cowboys Waive TE Rico Gathers

The Cowboys are ending their Rico Gathers experiment. The team made the decision to waive the former Baylor basketball player-turned-tight end on Monday.

Gathers received a one-game suspension earlier this offseason. Although Gathers saw action in just 15 games in one season (2018), the 25-year-old spent four offseasons with the Cowboys. Dallas drafted Gathers in the 2016 sixth round and attempted to develop him. Gathers finished last season with three receptions for 45 yards.

An ankle injury limited Gathers during his fourth Cowboys camp, and the Dallas tight end situation obviously changed in recent months. Jason Witten is now back on the team; Gathers did not see any game action during Witten’s previous run with the team.

Younger tight ends Blake Jarwin and Dalton Schultz are expected to make the Cowboys’ 53-man roster, leaving Gathers without a surefire role. Prior to the Cowboys investing a sixth-round pick in the college hoops standout, Gathers had not played organized football since middle school.

Cowboys TE Rico Gathers Suspended One Game

Cowboys tight end Rico Gathers has been suspended for the first game of the 2019 season, per Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link).

The suspension was for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. As Ian Rapoport of NFL Network pointed out in a tweet, the suspension stems from his 2018 arrest for marijuana possession. Gathers is battling for a roster spot right now, and this certainly won’t help his cause. Machota writes that Gathers is “currently the No. 4 TE on Dallas’ depth chart,” so his spot on the 53 seems tenuous at best.

The Cowboys currently have Jason Witten, Blake Jarwin, and Dalton Schultz ahead of him in the pecking order. A sixth round pick in 2016, Gathers has received some offseason hype in the past, but hasn’t done much in the regular season. Gathers is heading into the final year of his rookie deal, and is scheduled to make a base salary of only $570K, which could end up saving him.

There was talk last offseason that Gathers could play a big role for the Cowboys in the wake of Witten’s retirement, but he ended up serving mostly as a blocker. He was listed as starting four games, but ended up catching only three passes for 45 yards. A Baylor product, Gathers missed the entire 2017 season due to injury. He might not be the only Cowboy suspended this summer, as the league is reportedly investigating Ezekiel Elliott‘s latest situation.

Cowboys Notes: Jones, Lawrence, Gathers

As he enters his mid-seventies, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is slowly handing over control of the franchise to his son, Stephen Jones, according to David Moore of the Dallas Morning News. The younger Jones is currently Dallas’ executive vice president, CEO, and director of player personnel, so he’s more than prepared to take on a larger role. Stephen Jones takes a more conservative financial stance than his father, per Moore, which could indicate the Cowboys will have their cap in better order when he eventually takes over. Notably, Stephen pushed the Cowboys to eschew drafting Johnny Manziel in 2014, and lobbied instead to select guard Zack Martin, a win for the club.

  • Free agent guard Xavier Su’a-Filo worked out for the Cowboys on Thursday, tweets Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News. A former second-round pick Su’a-Filo spent four years with the Texans before inking a deal with the Titans earlier this year. He didn’t make it through final roster cuts, which is perhaps unsurprising given that he finished as a bottom-three guard in 2017, per Pro Football Focus. Dallas, though, needs depth along the interior of its offensive line given injuries to Zack Martin and Travis Frederick, so Su’a-Filo could be an option for the club.
  • Defensive end Demarcus Lawrence is paying attention to the recent extensions signed by fellow defenders Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack, and said his free agent price is rising correspondingly, per Calvin Watkins of The Athletic (Twitter link). Lawrence will earn $17.143MM under the franchise tender in 2018, but has already said he’s not open to playing on the tag in 2019 (not that he’ll have much of a choice if the Cowboys opt to deploy it again). Now that both Donald and Mack have crossed the $22MM/year threshold, the sky is the limit for Lawrence, who will aim to build on an excellent 2018 campaign that included 14.5 sacks.
  • Further details have emerged regarding tight end Rico Gathers‘ recent arrest for marijuana, as Kate Hairopaulos of the Dallas Morning News details. Gathers was arrested after he and a female companion were discovered smoking in Central Park in Frisco, Texas, and police found 0.078 ounces of marijuana on the former collegiate basketball player. Gathers’ arrest became public on Saturday just prior to roster cutdowns, but Dallas decided to keep him around nevertheless. He could potentially serve a brief league-imposed suspension down the line.

Cowboys’ Rico Gathers Arrested

Rico Gathers hasn’t helped his case to make the Cowboys roster. The tight end was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana last night, according to ESPN’s Todd Archer.

Police say they found Gathers in possession of less than two ounces of marijuana. The 24-year-old was released from jail this morning after posting bond. Marijuana possession is a violation in Texas (where Gathers was arrested), and he could be subject to the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.

Despite not having played football since the eighth grade, the Cowboys selected the 6-foot-8 Gathers in the sixth round of the 2016 draft. The Baylor basketball player has the athleticism to play football, but he hasn’t been able to put it together during his tenure in Dallas. The tight end has yet to appear in an NFL regular season game.

Gathers was already going to have a tough time making the Cowboys roster. He hauled in 10 passes during the preseason, but he was still listed behind behind Geoff Swaim, Blake Jarwin and rookie Dalton Schultz on the depth chart.

Jason Witten To Return In 2018

Following the Cowboys’ 6-0 win over the Eagles on Sunday, tight end Jason Witten announced he would return for his 16th season in 2018, ESPN’s Todd Archer reports. Jason Witten (vertical)

Witten was expected to return but left open the possibility of retiring in recent weeks. “I’m coming back. I love playing this game too much and I know that I can play it at a high level,” he said. After the University of Tennessee fired its head coach in 2017, Witten’s name appeared in coaching rumors but the tight end quickly shot down the reports.

Archer notes that Witten will become the longest-tenured member of the Cowboys in franchise history, surpassing Mark Tuinei, Ed “Too Tall” Jones and Bill Bates who each played 15 seasons.

Witten is signed through the 2021 season after signing a four-year extension in March. However, he has contemplated retirement each of the last two seasons. He finished the season with 63 receptions for his 14th consecutive 60-catch season.

Behind Witten on the depth chart, the Cowboys do have a promising talent in Rico Gathers, who played basketball at Baylor before being selected by Dallas in the 2016 NFL Draft. Gathers was placed on the practice squad in 2016, and enjoyed a breakout preseason in 2017 but was placed on injured reserve with a concussion.

NFC East Notes: Cowboys, Gathers, Redskins

Here’s a look at the NFC East:

  • Cowboys tight end Rico Gathers still has yet to return to practice and may not return from IR as initially planned, Brandon George of the Dallas Morning News writes. Gathers is still recovering from a head injury and concussion he suffered in mid-August following a helmet-to-helmet collision. Unfortunately, he has still not been cleared to practice and that’s not a good sign for his chances to play this year. In the preseason, Gathers turned some heads by catching seven passes for 106 yards and two scores.
  • Former Chiefs and Falcons defensive end Tyson Jackson will work out for the Redskins on Wednesday afternoon, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). The Redskins have been looking into front four depth as of late – they also tried out Jaye Howard and Cam Thomas in late October.
  • If signed, Jackson could help to fill in for Redskins defensive lineman Arthur Jones after he dislocated his shoulder. He “could miss time,” coach Jay Gruden says (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s John Keim). Wide receiver Brian Quick, meanwhile, is in the concussion protocol.