Jason Witten is already in elite company in terms of his production as a tight end, but there’s a good chance--a very good chance--that as of next Sunday, he will become the third most prolific tight end in the history of the game with respect to receptions.
Witten needs just two catches to pass Ozzie Newsome on the all-time receptions list for tight ends. After that, only Shannon Sharpe (815) and Tony Gonzalez (1,108) will have more catches than Witten, who has 661 as of this week. The Cowboys’ tight end admittedly doesn’t pay too much attention to things like this, but he admits that when you bring up his name and Newsome’s in the same breath, he’s taken aback somewhat.
“I said a while back it’s kind of surreal to think about passing a guy like that,” Witten said, per ESPN Dallas. “Until Tony came along he was the greatest tight end. He and John Mackey were the staples of what this position is all about. It will be special to be able to do that, but at the same time, you’re so intent on winning games that you don’t have time to look back at it.
“But it will be surreal for me. When I came into this league, I never thought about something like that. I just thought about getting better and better and better, so that’s been my mentality. You spend time in the film room to find five or six things I can work on to get better. If you keep that approach, good things will happen.”
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