Cowboys Sign Veteran TE Jason Witten To Four-Year Extension Worth Up To $29.6M

Todd Archer is reporting that the Cowboys have signed veteran TE Jason Witten to a four-year extension through 2021 on Tuesday.

• Brandon George reports that the four-year deal is worth a max value of $29.6 million, but includes no additional guaranteed money.
• Ian Rapoport points out that this is really just a cap-related move that will reduce Witten’s 2017 cap figure and not do much else.
• According to Archer, Witten’s cap number in 2017 remains the same and there was no guaranteed money added to the deal. This gives the Cowboys the option to restructure his contract later to gain some cap space.

Witten mentioned a month ago that he doesn’t expect to sign an extension with Dallas during the offseason and he wasn’t willing to commit to returning after the 2017 season.

“You know, I don’t know that it would be fair to say that. I think at this point you just go into it and look at it one year at a time,” said Witten, per Brandon George. “It sounds like you may know in April, but you don’t know what it’s going to feel like at this point in early February coming off the season.”

Apparently, things have changed and both the Cowboys and Witten are willing to commit to him playing several more years in Dallas.

Witten, 34, is a former third-round pick of the Cowboys back in 2003. He was in the final year of his five-year, $37 million contract that included $19 million guaranteed and stands to make a base salary of $7.4 million for the 2017 season.

In 2016, Witten appeared in all 16 games for the Cowboys and caught 69 passes for 673 yards receiving and three touchdowns. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 21 tight end out of 63 qualifying players.