The Cowboys didn’t wait long after the Micah Parsons trade to start rewarding their own, and Jake Ferguson was one of the first players to cash in. Dallas gave the tight end a four-year, $52 million extension with $30 million guaranteed, a deal that made him the seventh-highest-paid tight end in the NFL at the time.
At the moment it was signed, the move made plenty of sense. Ferguson had production.
He had a clear connection with Dak Prescott. And at $13 million per year, the Cowboys looked like they were locking in a reliable piece before the rest of the offseason unfolded.
Then Ferguson went out and turned in the worst season of his career.
He still finished with a career-high 80 catches, but the bigger picture was far less flattering. Ferguson averaged only 35.3 receiving yards per game, a number that points straight to how little he did after the catch. He also put the ball on the ground three times, and each fumble landed like a gut punch for a team that couldn’t count on the defense to bail it out.
The biggest concern is how sharply his yards-after-catch production fell off. Ferguson’s 3.8 yards after the catch per reception ranked 20th among 23 tight ends with at least 60 targets, according to Pro Football Focus advanced stats.
Travis Kelce and Hunter Henry, both older starting tight ends, were well ahead of him. So was former Cowboy Dalton Schultz, who finished at 4.4 YAC per reception.
That drop matters because Ferguson’s role did not shrink. With George Pickens in the mix, he still saw 102 targets, which matched his career high.
Defenses had to account for CeeDee Lamb and Pickens, so the middle of the field should have opened up for Ferguson. Instead, he struggled to turn those chances into real damage.
The version of Ferguson who took over as the starter made his name by creating after the catch. That part of his game simply wasn’t there last season. He still has value as one of Dak Prescott’s trusted targets, but that alone doesn’t justify paying him like one of the league’s top tight ends.
Prescott has always been comfortable throwing to tight ends, and Ferguson’s limited impact as a run blocker only raises the bar further. Dallas needs more than routine production from a player making that kind of money.
If Ferguson doesn’t clean up the ball security and rediscover his ability to turn short catches into bigger gains in 2026, the Cowboys could find themselves having some uncomfortable conversations about that extension.
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