Jason Witten seemed fully committed to playing for the Dallas Cowboys in 2018 before ESPN made him a broadcasting offer he couldn’t refuse, so it’s fair to wonder if the star tight end could end up having second thoughts. According to Witten, there is no chance of that happening.
In an appearance on “The Adam Schefter Podcast” this week, Witten was asked if he would consider returning to the playing field in the right situation, such as if the Cowboys were winning and needed a tight end.
“That’s kind of come and gone for me,” he said. “I did love playing, but I know how much work goes into that. That’s no disrespect to any guys who have made that transition and then gone back and had an opportunity to play.
“I’m so thankful for my journey and I know how much I poured into it as a player — how I prepared, how I trained at my age. I think for me, that’s why I took so long (to make a decision) was because I wanted to make sure I had inner peace about this decision and didn’t want to go back and forth. I’m in a great place. I think that’s unwavering.”
Witten said during his retirement press conference that his biggest regret was not winning a Super Bowl. However, he says he would never sign with a team late in the season just to fulfill that dream.
“For me, part of the joy from playing comes from the process. It’s the training camp, the meetings, the dinners,” Witten said. “So to think, ‘Hey I haven’t won a championship, I’m gonna dive back in there and go on this five-year run.’ That’s just not my style.”
Jay Cutler is the most recent example of a player who agreed to join a broadcasting team and then went back to playing, but the circumstances were much different. The comments Cutler made a few months ago reiterated that.
Witten is one of the most respected players in NFL history because he has always been 100 percent committed and never missed a day of work. We can expect the same from him as he starts his new career.
