Cowboys' $2.125 million tight end's future is on the line as new UDFA competition comes for his roster spot
Cowboys’ $2.125 million tight end’s future is on the line as new UDFA competition comes for his roster spot originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Princeton Fant has spent three years grinding on the Dallas Cowboys‘ practice squad, just barely surviving final cuts year after year. But heading into this summer’s training camp, the numbers are looking tougher than ever.
Back in March, Dallas re-signed him to a two-year, $2.125 million deal. While that sounds solid, his $1.005 million salary for this season shows it’s really just a depth piece insurance policy, not a guaranteed roster spot.
That difference matters now more than ever, especially with the Cowboys bringing in a new batch of hungry, undrafted rookie tight ends who are actively gunning for his job.
Fant actually started out as a running back before switching to tight end in college at the Tennessee Volunteers. In Dallas, he managed to carve out a nice little role for himself by playing hard on special teams, getting into 11 total games over the last three seasons.
He’s been promoted, cut, and re-signed to the practice squad many times, even briefly making the active roster at the end of 2024 before sliding back to the taxi squad last August.
Ultimately, he’s the definition of a guy who has earned the coaching staff’s trust in a limited role. But if he wants to finally lock down a true, permanent spot on the 53-man roster, he’s going to have to play the best football of his life this summer because Dallas signed UDFA tight ends Michael Trigg out of Baylor and DJ Rogers out of TCU.
Both rookies have a size and receiving advantage over Fant, who has always been short for an NFL tight end at 6-foot-2. Trigg especially stands out because he can act as a big slot receiver, which always gets coaches excited during camp.
The depth chart is already crowded. Jake Ferguson is the starter, and Brevyn Spann-Ford and Luke Schoonmaker are firmly ahead of Fant. Dallas usually carries three or four tight ends, so Fant’s best shot at making the team is to stand out on special teams. Realistically, his easiest path to a roster spot depends on someone else getting hurt.
Fant has a history of beating the odds in Dallas, but this summer is his hardest test yet.
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