The Dallas Cowboys, Blake Jarwin reach 3-year extension worth up to $24.25 million

The deal has $9.25 million in guaranteed money. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport was first to report the news of the signing. Dallas made the signing official Monday afternoon. The News’ Calvin Watkins in early March reported that Dallas planned on placing a second-round tender on the tight end. Jarwin, who set career highs in catches (31), yards (365) and snaps (434), is projected as the starting tight end if Jason Witten doesn’t return. A second-round tender would have given Jarwin a base salary of $3.2 million. Jarwin earned $645,000 last season. What does this mean for Witten? Time will tell. Witten is weighing his options and is “leaning towards” playing, as he first said on The Rich Eisen Show in late January. He’d elaborate saying he knows not playing in Dallas is a possibility. “I have 16 years in Dallas,” Witten said at the time. “I would love finish it off there. But I also understand and am not naive enough to think that...it may need to be somewhere else. I think that’s how this business works. So you have to be open to that idea, for sure. The biggest thing is having those open conversations with Jerry [Jones], Stephen [Jones], and Mike [McCarthy] and see where this thing takes us in the next couple of months.” Witten would say something similar in an appearance at The Star in mid-February. “It’s my hope, I think it’s our hope, to have those talks soon after the combine ends before free agency," Witten said. “I want to play. “Of course, I want that to be with the Dallas Cowboys. I will always be a Dallas Cowboy, but I also understand that might mean with all the changes I have to go somewhere else." Witten has the most receptions and receiving yards in franchise history. He has played more games in a Cowboys uniform than anyone. Dez Bryant is the only player in club history with more touchdown receptions. But those statistical achievements don’t mean Witten will be back, as The News’ David Moore has written. “There was a sense that Witten’s presence impeded Jarwin’s development. That’s not really the case,” Moore said. “Was Witten on the field more because he was the better blocker? Yes," Moore said. "But Jarwin really found himself in competition with Tavon Austin and running back Tony Pollard when it came to receptions and carving out a niche for himself in the Cowboys’ offensive scheme.”