In February, Cowboys tight end Jason Witten said he wasn’t sure how much longer he wanted to continue playing and that he thought the best approach was to “just go into it and look at it one year at a time.”
Witten’s view appears to have changed pretty dramatically over the last few weeks. Todd Archer of ESPN.com reports that Witten has agreed to a four-year extension with the Cowboys that will keep him under contract through the 2021 season.
The desire for the Cowboys to have Witten on hand beyond 2017 comes as little surprise given how much he’s meant to the team’s offense. The length of the deal for a player who turns 35 in May does more to raise the eyebrows, although the details of the pact will be enlightening as to its impact on the team’s overall salary cap picture.
In the short term, it will likely lower Witten’s 2017 cap hit from the current $12.262 million, giving them a bit more to spend elsewhere as they build for the coming season.