The Tribune

By INIGO 'NAUGHTY' ZENICAZELAYA

We are heading into March, and into the NFL free agency period, when teams around the NFL lose all their senses and throw millions around in an attempt to find that ever elusive quick fix.

Thank God my Cowboys have exercised good decision making, restraint and exhibited patience for the majority of the decade, in regards to free agency.

This year however, there’s a strong possibility that the Cowboys will address their rather obvious need at the tight end position in free agency.

As it stands now, here’s what the Cowboys TE position looks like.

Blake Jarwin flashed late in the season. He showed potential to be the tight end of the future in Dallas.

The key for Jarwin is consistency. Far too often he was unproductive.

Dalton Schultz didn’t do much his rookie season and Rico Gathers is still raw.

Geoff Swaim was penciled in as the starter heading into the 2018 season. A wrist injury ended his contract year prematurely. The Cowboys will probably let him walk.

• Here is a list of 5 free agent options at TE the Cowboys could pursuit.

JARED COOK -

OAKLAND RAIDERS

Cook is the best free agent tight end available.

He was the Oakland Raiders’ most consistent pass catcher last year. Oakland may re-sign the veteran entering his 11th season.

Cook caught 68 passes for 896 yards and six touchdowns in 2018.

The Cowboys’ most productive tight end last year was Jarwin. He caught 27 balls for 307 yards and three touchdowns (all three TDs coming in one game) last season.

LUKE WILSON -

DETROIT LIONS

Wilson’s spent time as a starter and backup in Seattle and Detroit. He’s started 45 of 86 possible games. He flashes potential at times, but on other occasions when he gets lost on film. He enters free agency with 102 receptions, 1,216 yards and 11 touchdowns in his career.

MAXX WILLIAMS -

BALTIMORE RAVENS

Williams fell to the bottom of Baltimore’s depth chart in 2018, having lost a step after suffering a knee injury in 2016.

The Ravens thought they had the next Todd Heap when they drafted Williams in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft. It didn’t turn out that way for Baltimore or Williams, thus the team drafting two tight ends in the first three rounds of the 2018 draft. Those moves signalled Williams’ fate in Baltimore. He could use a fresh start.

JESSIE JAMES -

PITTSBURGH

STEELERS

James could slide in and start for Dallas in 2019. He was No. 1 on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ tight end depth chart until the team acquired Vance McDonald from the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a 2018 fourth-round pick.

The towering James would be a big target for quarterback Dak Prescott. He’s registered 120 catches for 1,189 yards and nine touchdowns in four seasons. His blocking is also underrated.

XAVIER GRIMBLE -

PITTSBURGH

STEELERS

Grimble is more of a blocking tight end. He’d be good for when the Cowboys go into their 12 personnel package with two tight ends, two receivers and a running back.

The 26-year-old made his rounds on the NFL practice squad circuit before landing on the Steelers’ active roster the last three seasons.

HAPPY TRAILS

The Cowboys have decided not to pick up the option clause in the contract for wide receiver Terrance Williams, making him a free agent officially on March 16.

Williams, who only played in two games this season due to injuries and a suspension, was scheduled to make $3.5 million in base salary in 2019, the third of a four-year deal he signed in 2017.

The Cowboys’ third-round pick in 2013, Williams had at least 500 yards receiving in the first five years of his career but his problems began last offseason. A foot injury sidelined him for most of the summer, but he also was arrested for public intoxication, although the charges were later dropped, after police found his Lamborghini had crashed into a light pole in Frisco.

Williams was placed on IR for the same foot injury on October 6, and then was suspended for three games by the NFL on October 18.

While Williams was eligible to return from IR later in the season, the Cowboys had already brought the league maximum of two players back from injured reserve in C.J. Goodwin and Noah Brown. Regardless, Williams was never part of the Cowboys’ plans to return last season.

Williams finishes his Cowboys career currently ranked 15th in franchise history with 3,377 yards.

• Naughty presents ‘Mischief and Mayhem in da AM’ from 6am to 10am, Monday to Friday and ‘The Press Box’ sports talk show on Sunday from 10am to 1pm, on KISS FM 96.1.