With the Dallas Cowboys set to open training-camp practices Saturday, here is the latest in a position-by-position look at their roster:
TIGHT END
Returning players: Jason Witten, James Hanna, Gavin Escobar, Geoff Swaim
Gone from last season: None
New this season: Rico Gathers (sixth-round draft pick), Austin Traylor (undrafted free agent)
Position coaches: Mike Pope (third season as Cowboys tight-ends coach), Steve Loney (second season with the Cowboys, first as offensive staff assistant)
Biggest issue: This group enters training camp with its members from the past few seasons intact, so the Cowboys know what they will get. Witten will be a chain-mover in the passing game and an effective blocker. Hanna will be a solid No. 2 tight end. Escobar has a chance to be a target down the seams. Swaim has potential. If there is one thing, it’s this: get the tight ends more involved in the red zone. Witten is too often a forgotten man inside the 20. Escobar can go up and get the ball. With a weapon like Dez Bryant, it’s easy to rely on his greatness, but the tight ends can do more than what has been asked of them lately.
Player to watch: Swaim did not play much as a rookie last season but the Cowboys view him as an on-the-line tight end, a throwback of sorts, with his ability to block and catch. He has the perfect person to follow in Witten's steps. Swaim has gotten stronger in the offseason, but needs to show the coaches early in camp he has improved. Getting into the playing-time mix will be difficult because of those in front of him, but he can still show he has a future.
Medical report: Escobar has made a quicker-than-expected recovery from a torn Achilles suffered last December. He will not open training camp on the physically unable to perform list, but he will be worked into practice slowly. As Witten enters his 14th season, it is possible the coaches look to limit some of his snaps in camp just to make sure he is as fresh as possible.
Play it out: Gathers will have a chance to force his way into the 53-man roster mix, but he has miles to go because he has not played football since junior high school. While a good athlete, he will have to adjust to the terminology and pace of the game after a successful career as a basketball player at Baylor.
Notable number: 203. Witten has played in 203 consecutive games, a franchise record. He has missed one game in his career: Week 6, 2003, against Philadelphia because of a broken jaw.
Quote board: "Never a day and really never a rep in anything he's ever done. That doesn't mean he wins all the time, but his approach is always right. And that's probably Line 1 with him, is he's as professional a person as a player as I've ever been around. His commitment to doing things the right way, commitment to excellence is unmatched. And, again, it's beyond a day. It's everything within that day." -- Cowboys coach Jason Garrett on Witten.
The series: