By Brandon George / Reporter
bgeorge@dallasnews.com
9:02 am on January 21, 2014 | Permalink
MOBILE, Ala. — In agreeing to select tight end Gavin Escobar with a second-round pick in last year’s draft, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wanted assurances from the coaching staff that they would use him often and he’d be a game-changer for the offense.
Well, he wasn’t during his rookie season in 2013. Escobar had only nine catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns.
The Cowboys didn’t use Escobar as much, in part, because they didn’t use two-tight end sets as much as they had promised. Also, Escobar was slow to improve with his blocking, which the Cowboys knew was a weak point in his game before they drafted him.
Jones said Monday during the first day of Senior Bowl practices that fans can expect to see a lot more of Escobar in 2014. Jones said he wasn’t disappointed by Escobar’s slow development.
“No, disappointed in the number of chances that he got, the number of times that we gave him an opportunity, and we’re going to do something about that,” Jones said. “Going forward, he’ll have a lot more opportunity and he should have had a lot more opportunity last year. We looked back and said that this is something on our should-have-done list, having him more involved in the offense would have been one of them.
“He certainly didn’t in anyway take a step back, disappoint, relative to his skill level and what he can do as a real weapon for us. He actually showed some of the same things that a [Cole] Beasley does or some of the same things as even a [Lance] Dunbar but in a totally different way and those guys have those packages and they can come in there and really help your offense out. Escobar is very capable of that and we HAVE TO get him the ball more because he can make those big plays for us.”
bgeorge@dallasnews.com
9:02 am on January 21, 2014 | Permalink
MOBILE, Ala. — In agreeing to select tight end Gavin Escobar with a second-round pick in last year’s draft, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wanted assurances from the coaching staff that they would use him often and he’d be a game-changer for the offense.
Well, he wasn’t during his rookie season in 2013. Escobar had only nine catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns.
The Cowboys didn’t use Escobar as much, in part, because they didn’t use two-tight end sets as much as they had promised. Also, Escobar was slow to improve with his blocking, which the Cowboys knew was a weak point in his game before they drafted him.
Jones said Monday during the first day of Senior Bowl practices that fans can expect to see a lot more of Escobar in 2014. Jones said he wasn’t disappointed by Escobar’s slow development.
“No, disappointed in the number of chances that he got, the number of times that we gave him an opportunity, and we’re going to do something about that,” Jones said. “Going forward, he’ll have a lot more opportunity and he should have had a lot more opportunity last year. We looked back and said that this is something on our should-have-done list, having him more involved in the offense would have been one of them.
“He certainly didn’t in anyway take a step back, disappoint, relative to his skill level and what he can do as a real weapon for us. He actually showed some of the same things that a [Cole] Beasley does or some of the same things as even a [Lance] Dunbar but in a totally different way and those guys have those packages and they can come in there and really help your offense out. Escobar is very capable of that and we HAVE TO get him the ball more because he can make those big plays for us.”
