Adam Schefter and Todd Archer report that Cowboys TE Jason Witten will, in fact, retire from the NFL and join ESPN as an analyst for Monday Night Football.
Last week, reports surfaced that Witten was prepared to join ESPN, but Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said there was no timetable for a decision to be made.
Cowboys HC Jason Garrett was reportedly trying to convince Witten to return for the 2018 season, but it appears as though the opportunity was too much to pass up.
There has been talk that Witten could retire following the 2017 season the past few months so this doesn’t come as a complete surprise. Although, Witten said back in January that he planned to be back with the team.
“Oh, I’m back,” Witten said, via the Dallas Morning News. “I’m coming back. I love playing this game too much and I know that I can play it at a high level.”
Witten also had interest from Fox to be their new Thursday Night Football analyst.
Witten, 35, is a former third-round pick of the Cowboys back in 2003. He is in the second year of his five-year, $29.6 million contract and stands to make a base salary of $5.75 million for the 2018 season.
In 2017, Witten appeared in 16 games for the Cowboys and caught 63 passes for 560 yards receiving and five touchdowns. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 19 tight end out of 72 qualifying players.
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