After months of assurances, Jason Witten may be about to deliver a stunner to the Dallas Cowboys.
According to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, Witten, the team’s standout veteran tight end, intends to retire from the NFL and become ESPN’s new Monday Night Football analyst. He will meet with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones first before finalizing his decision.
Jason Witten is planning to retire after 15 years to join ESPN's new Monday Night Football broadcast team as a lead analyst but will meet today with owner Jerry Jones before making his decision final, per sources.
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) April 27, 2018
Witten is an 11-time Pro Bowler and a likely future Hall of Famer. Even though his numbers are down overall, he still caught five touchdowns for Dallas in 2017.
The news comes as a shock, especially after he’d already said he intended to play in 2018. Clearly, the ESPN offer had some appeal, likely financially and in terms of the fact that it would certainly be less physically demanding than another year in the NFL. He’s following the career path taken by his former teammate and close friend, who probably gave him some counsel here as well.
