Jason Witten‘s stay in the broadcast booth lasted but a season.
It appears the Cowboys tight end is leaning toward his return to the field lasting a bit longer than that.
Asked in an interview with USA Today if his future could involve coaching, Witten answered that it could, but indicated his immediate future would be at least another year in shoulder pads and a helmet.
“I just want to exhaust every opportunity to play and obviously try to play in a game like this, coming up this weekend — the Super Bowl,” he said, via the team website. “But yeah I think, post-career, I could see myself coaching for sure.”
Following a season away, Witten returned for his 16th campaign with the Cowboys — the most in Dallas history.
He produced 63 catches for 529 yards and four touchdowns, lending a veteran presence to a usually high-octane offense led by the likes of Dak Prescott, Amari Cooper and Ezekiel Elliott.
Prescott and Cooper need new deals and so too would Witten, who signed a one-year deal upon his return.
Nonetheless, Witten was pleased with how he performed in 2019 and that would bode well for elongating his return.
“I was proud of the way I played,” he said. “Every time an older player gets toward the end of their career, they’re always talking about ‘I feel better now than I did 10 years ago.’ Not necessarily the case for me, but I still feel good. I think that year off helped me.”
Witten’s decision on whether he’ll be back for 2020 was one he expected to make quickly, but that hasn’t been the case and instead is one of many looming quandaries for the Cowboys as a new era under new coach Mike McCarthy gets going.
“Originally, I thought I was going to be pretty quick in making that decision, but obviously a lot of things have changed,” he said via The Athletic.
Nothing is certain, but the signs are pointing to another autumn on the playing field for Witten.
“We’ll see how it plays out, but yeah,” he said. “I’m putting myself in position to go play and evaluating what it looks like.”