When the Dallas Cowboys selected tight end Rico Gathers with the 217th pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, they knew the pick would likely be hit or miss. Dallas took a chance on Gathers due to his freakish athletic ability and hoped they would be able to turn the former basketball standout into a football player.
When Dallas drafted Gathers he had not played organized football since middle school, so the Cowboys realized there would be some growing pains along the way. Gathers spent the 2017-2018 season on the Cowboys practice squad, where he learned more about the game of football and how to play the tight end position as a whole.