Jason Witten has played 254 games in his 16 seasons. He concedes his 255th could be his last.
“Sure, it’s definitely a possibility when you’re at this point in your career, but I really don’t envision this being my last game,” Witten said Thursday. “My focus is on seeing if we can win this game and one of the things [I said] after I came back was I wasn’t going to do that. I wasn’t going to be, ‘This is your last road; this is your last. . . .’ So I’m sticking true to that. I still feel I can play the game at a high level. So all my focus is on Sunday. But yeah, I think that’s a possibility, but I don’t envision that from my approach.”
The Cowboys tight end retired after the 2017 season to go into the Monday Night Football booth. He returned this season, signing a one-year contract.
Witten, who turns 38 in May, has started every game in 2019. He has played 795 offensive snaps, which is 76 percent of the team’s offensive snaps.
He ranks third on the team in catches with 59 for 505 yards and four touchdowns. The Cowboys, though, no longer control their playoff destiny and cannot finish better than .500.
“Look, it doesn’t always go where you’re going to get a 13-3 and a one seed and a bye and home playoff games throughout,” Witten said. “That’s not. . . . Sure, you think about playing in those games and that’s what drives you is winning championships. I knew for this to be successful it’s kind of like a quarterback: You’ve got to win games. But I’m proud of the way I played and still have an opportunity in front of us. Yeah, 100 percent, I’ve got conviction on it was the right thing to do and proud of the way I’ve gone about it.”
Witten said he will made a decision “pretty quick” after the season about whether to return or not.
His future is not a return to the TV booth. Instead, Witten wants to coach in the NFL.
“When I’m done playing, that’s something I’d like to do,” Witten said. “Yeah, for sure.”