Despite mulling over the decision for a few days, Dallas Cowboys’ tight end Jason Witten is hanging up his cleats for a gig in the booth for ESPN’s Monday Night Football.
The decision comes a few days after reports surfaced stating that Witten was retiring to pursue the job opportunity at ESPN.
Earlier on Wednesday, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said there was no timeline on when Witten would make a decision.
According to a report from ESPN, another network made an interesting offer to Witten that would allow him to keep playing and potentially walk away in 2019 for a job with them.
Had Witten returned for a 16th season, he would have been the longest-tenured player in franchise history, but he will leave as the Cowboys’ all-time leader in games played, consecutive games played, starts, catches and receiving yards.
The Cowboys drafted Stanford tight end Dalton Schultz in the fourth round of the NFL Draft in preparation of Witten’s eventual departure.
The Cowboys may not have seen the production in 2017 out of Witten that they had seen over the majority of his career, but his locker room leadership and chemistry with quarterback Dak Prescott were valuable.
Witten is a sure-fire Hall of Famer.