New-look Jason Witten has no doubt he can help the Cowboys in his return: ’I’m ready’

Jason Witten showed up for his induction into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday with a new look.

The soon-to-be-37-year-old has a balding buzz cut that befits his age. It is a stark contrast to the Ken Doll-look he wore as an analyst for Monday Night Football last season.

Ultimately, Witten decided the job and the image weren’t for him. The game was still in his blood.

So he ended a one-year retirement and is back to playing football with the Cowboys.

Despite the new look, he promises to the be the same old Witten with the same fire and intensity that he showed for 15 years as a record-setting tight end, making 11 Pro Bowls and becoming the team’s all-time leading receiver in yards and catches.

It was a career worthy of being one of seven people being inducted in the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and has him as a shoo-in to the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day.

The latter will have to wait. The former was already consummated before he decided to come out of retirement last month.

He has no doubts about making a successful comeback and is ready to prove himself all over again.

“I don’t, but I also understand that people are going to,” Witten told reporters Saturday in Waco. “I understand that. Hopefully, over time they’ll see it. That’s the great thing about this game is that it always shows. I’ll be ready.”

It was his first public comments since announcing his return on March 1.

Witten said the game started tugging at him last season while he was in the booth for ESPN and the Cowboys were making a run to the playoffs. When he got the opportunity to return, he simply followed his heart.

“I said it when I retired a year ago, I don’t know that anybody really knows when it’s their time to go. And I was no different,” Witten said. “I had a great experience in the (ESPN) booth. I saw a different perspective. I saw the league from a different viewpoint in getting the opportunity to go see 31 other teams and how they’ve built their team and go about it. But at the same time, I saw the Cowboys’ team start to come together and a lot of stars and young stars that love the game. When (Cowboys owner/general manager) Jerry (Jones) presented me that opportunity to come back, I was just extremely excited.

“I think more than anything else, something was tugging on me inside me to say, maybe there’s something still left to go out there and go after that championship.”

Witten will bring the same intensity and work ethic but the Cowboys have talked to him about having a lesser role in his return.

He will no longer play every snap. The plan is for him to get 25 snaps a game while sharing the position with the-emerging Blake Jarwin and 2018 fourth-round pick Dalton Schultz.

Coach Jason Garrett said Witten is on board with a reduced role, although there will be some growing pains for him.

“I think he recognizes the importance of being able to take a practice off in training camp and I think the same thing applies to how we would use him in a game right now,” Garrett said. “His greatest strength is his competitiveness, his desire, his drive to be a great football player and have a positive impact on our team. He’ll go to all ends of the Earth to be able to do that – that’s why he’s a Hall of Fame player. You never want to take that away from him.

“Having said that, we have a couple of young tight ends who emerged last year and started playing better and better as the year went on. We feel like those guys will have a role for us. All of that stuff will be fleshed out as we get going, but suffice it to say we’re really excited he’s back. We’re excited about the development of those young guys and how that tight end group is going to be.”

Witten, who has already been working out and watching film, seems to have accepted his new normal at the Cowboys’ headquarters.

He noted in an Instagram video at the Star in Frisco last week that guard Zack Martin took his old locker but he’s in the same area.

A smiling and re-invigorated Witten is just happy to be playing football again.

“I feel like a little kid when my car pulls in,” Witten said. “I’m looking forward to the next six, seven months…I think we’ve got a good young team that’s ready to compete. I’m ready to help them out in any way I can.”

Witten was among seven inductees in the 2019 Texas Sports Hall of Fame class. The others were former tennis legend Maureen Connolly Brinker, former Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson, former professional basketball star Nancy Lieberman, former University of Arkansas Outland Trophy winner Loyd Phillips, former University of Texas and MLB pitcher Greg Swindell and former Texas A&M and NFL kicker Tony Franklin.

This story was originally published April 1, 2019 at 7:00 AM.