Jason Witten, the longtime Dallas Cowboys tight end who struggled to adjust to a broadcasting role with ESPN after quitting football last May, has un-retired and will return for a 16th professional season.
“The fire inside of me to compete and play this game is just burning too strong,” Witten said in a statement issued through the team. “This team has a great group of rising young stars, and I want to help them make a run at a championship. This was completely my decision, and I am very comfortable with it. I’m looking forward to getting back in the dirt.”
Witten, who turns 37 in May, played 15 years for the Cowboys from 2003 through 2017 and was named to 11 Pro Bowls, the most by any offensive player the club’s history. He ranks second all-time among tight ends in career receptions and receiving yards, trailing only Tony Gonzalez in both categories.
But for all his success on the field, Witten’s transition to television as a color analyst for ESPN’s flagship Monday Night Football franchise was widely derided as a disaster.
Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News reported Witten’s contract is worth $5m over one season.
Last year’s Cowboys won the NFC East with a 10-6 record and managed a rare playoff win – their third in the last 22 years – before falling to the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round.
ESPN did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.