The Dallas Cowboys figured they had spent enough pivotal draft capital on the position. Every so often, the team gets the urge to spend a premium draft choice on the tight end position and each time they’ve been burned. In 2003’s third round, they landed a future Hall of Fame talent in Jason Witten. Since then, though, it’s been top-75 disaster after top-75 disaster. From Sean Ryan to Martellus Bennett to Anthony Fasano, to more recent fruitless pick Luke Schoonmaker, the team hasn’t done well on Day 2.
They’ve returned to their more normal strategy of recent vintage, wishing on UDFA stars. This year the team grabbed two, hoping they’ll continue to find talent like they did last season with Brevyn Spann-Ford. Along with Virginia’s Tyler Neville, Auburn’s Rivaldo Fairweather is trying to make an impression on Brian Schottenheimer’s staff over a six-week training camp run in Oxnard, CA.
Fairweather’s journey to the pros is unique; not because he transferred schools midway through his collegiate career. A lot of players do that, especially since the transfer portal (rightly) became a thing. It’s more that to start his football career, Fairweather was a punter, and only moved to playing tight end his senior year of high school.
Rundown
Position: Tight end
Age: 23
Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 242 pounds
Hometown: Lauderdale, FL
High School: Boyd Anderson
College: Florida International, Auburn (Highlights)
Draft: 2025 Undrafted Free Agent
Contract: Three-year contract (2025), $2.98 million
2025 Base Salary: $840,000, $150 in guarantees
Profile
Fairweather has a ton of competition to make the 53-man roster. Even if he’s impressive in training camp, he may end up being stashed in preseason games in an effort to get him to the practice squad. Along with Neville, he’ll be competing with pass-catching TE John Stephens Jr, who is returning after a second-straight ACL tear. Also on the roster is former UDFA Princeton Fant. All four of them are competing to be TE4, whether on the main roster or call-up-eligible practice squad, but Dallas might not want a fourth TE.
FB Hunter Luepke is looking to have a hybrid role being carved out for him that allows the club to fool defenses by motioning him in and out of the backfield on a regular basis. Fairweather has a ton to overcome just to continue his football career in Dallas, so all he can do is look to impress in limited opportunities.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Dallas Cowboys player profile: No. 45 TE Rivaldo Fairweather