Fantasy Upside
Blake Jarwin enters year two of his four-year deal with Dallas and stands to benefit as a field-stretching option between the hashes. He entered 2020 as the favorite to be Dallas’s lead tight end with the retirement of Jason Witten but suffered a torn ACL Week 1 after one reception. Jarwin was replaced by Dalton Schultz and put up TE14 numbers with Andy Dalton as his quarterback once Dak Prescott was lost for the season. Jarwin as the lead tight end on a high-powered offense puts him well within the TE1 landscape.
Fantasy Downside
How will Jarwin look once training camp opens? He will be 10 months removed from surgery and will have to work his way into “game shape.” Jarwin also has to compete with Schultz after he produced more than respectable numbers as the starter. Schultz is also a better blocker, which could keep Jarwin off the field in three-wide receiver sets. A committee approach all but mitigates Jarwin’s fantasy upside. Any setback in his ACL recovery also hurts his value.
2021 Bottom Line
Jarwin is being paid like he is the top option at tight end in Dallas. That may be the only way he is the choice with an ACL injury on his chart and a talented second tight end ready to take his role. That said, Jarwin is the better athlete and if given the majority of the snaps is firmly in the conversation for top 10 fantasy tight end production.