Cowboys should sit Jake Ferguson in Week 2 and turn to Hunter Luepke
After avoiding what looked like a season-ending type injury to his knee in the season opener, Dallas Cowboys starting tight end Jake Ferguson looks as if he could have an outside chance of suiting up for the Week 2 matchup with the New Orleans Saints.
Cowboys TE Jake Ferguson said the pain of his knee injury was a 10 on Sunday. It’s a zero today. The initial thought was that it was an ACL injury.
“Thankfully just a little bone bruise. I don’t even think it’s a Grade 1.”
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) September 11, 2024
For the pain in his knee to go from a 10 to a zero in a few days is a great sign Jake Ferguson is on the fast track to recovery. It also means as long as he remains pain free throughout the rest the week he has a very good chance of playing against the Saints, but should he?
Unless the Dallas Cowboys are 100% certain Ferguson is back to full strength, they should probably consider sitting him this week to prevent any chance of possible reinjury. It’s still very early in the season and they need to be thinking long-term success, not short-term.
If the Cowboys decide to sideline or limit Ferguson this week, and they should, Hunter Luepke should be the next man up to help replace his production. In fact, that’s exactly how things played out in Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns already.
Hunter Luepke was a key contributor in the Cowboys 33-17 dominant victory over the Browns in the season opener. He played a total of 45 snaps on offense and special teams according to Pro Football Focus (PFF). Of those 45 snaps, 20 of them were on offense.
What’s interesting about the 20 offensive snaps Luepke played in Week 1 against the Browns is how the Cowboys chose to deploy him. Surprisingly enough, only eight of them were out of the backfield. Most of his snaps was as an inline tight end (10).
Luepke’s position flex and versatility could give the Cowboys offense a slight advantage over the Saints this week. His ability to play fullback or tight end on any given play means they can seamless the go from 12 to 21 personnel whenever they want. He could motion from one position to the next and become a Swiss Army knife/mismatch weapon at each one.
It’s true Hunter Luepke isn’t the traditional type of tight end like Jake Ferguson and he won’t be expected to be as productive either, but he does bring something a little bit different to the table over the other options Dallas currently has on the roster.
Luke Schoonmaker and Brevyn Spann-Ford will likely see the field as well in some kind of committee approach, but neither of them brings the same type of versatility Hunter Luepke does to the Cowboys offense. Because of that, expect No. 40 to be heavily involved once again this week if Jake Ferguson is indeed sidelined.