Dalton Chase Schultz (born July 11, 1996) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

Early years

Schultz attended Bingham High School in

South Jordan, Utah South Jordan is a city in south central Salt Lake County, Utah, United States, south of Salt Lake City. Part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, the city lies in the Salt Lake Valley along the banks of the Jordan River between the Oquirrh ...

. Along with

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, he played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

for the Miners athletic teams. As a senior, he caught 31 passes for 512 yards and nine touchdowns. For his high school career, he had 76 receptions for 1,120 yards and 12 touchdowns. He committed to play college football for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

in January 2014.

College career

Schultz accepted a football scholarship from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. He did not see any action as a true freshman in 2014 and was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

. In 2015 as a redshirt freshman, he played in all 14 games as a backup to

Austin Hooper Austin Manuel Hooper (born October 29, 1994) is an American football tight end for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Stanford, and was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the third round o ...

, catching 10 passes for 121 yards and one

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

. As a sophomore in 2016, he was named the starter after Hooper declared for the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

. He played in all 13 games, having 23 receptions for 222 yards (fourth on the team) and one touchdown. He helped block for

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

Christian McCaffrey Christian Jackson McCaffrey (born June 7, 1996) is an American football running back for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Stanford and was drafted by the Carolina Panthers eighth overa ...

and

Bryce Love Jonathan Bryce Love (born July 8, 1997) is an American football running back who is currently a free agent. He played college football at Stanford and was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, although he ...

, while receiving honorable-mention All-Pac-12 honors. Prior to the 2017 season, Schultz was named to the

John Mackey Award The John Mackey Award is presented annually to college football's most outstanding tight end. Established in 2000 by the Nassau County Sports Commission, the award is given annually to the tight end who best exemplifies the play, sportsmanship, a ...

watch list. In 13 games he was used mostly as a blocker, catching 22 passes for 212 yards (fifth on the team) and three touchdowns, while helping

Love rush for 2,118 yards. He was named to the All-Pac-12 First-team, declaring for the

2018 NFL Draft The 2018 NFL Draft was the 83rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2018 NFL season. The draft was held on April 26–28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; it was the first draft ...

after the season.

College statistics

Professional career

2018

Schultz was selected by the

in the fourth round (137th overall) of the

, to improve the depth at

after the surprising retirements of

Jason Witten Christopher Jason Witten (born May 6, 1982) is an American former professional football player who was a tight end for 17 seasons, primarily for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Univers ...

and

James Hanna James Hanna (born July 14, 1989) is a former American football tight end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. He was drafted in the sixth round (186th overall) of the 2012 NFL Draft. He played college football at the Un ...

. He was the third-string tight end behind

Geoff Swaim Geoff Swaim (born September 16, 1993) is an American football tight end for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Texas and was selected in the seventh round of the 2015 NFL draft by the Dalla ...

and

Blake Jarwin Blake Jarwin (born July 16, 1994) is an American football tight end who is a free agent. He played college football at Oklahoma State and signed with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2017. Early years Jarwin attended Tuttle Hi ...

. After Swaim was lost to an injury in Week 11, Schultz passed Jarwin on the depth chart as the starter and was used mostly for blocking purposes. He started seven of the eleven games he played and both playoff contests. He tallied 12 receptions for 116 yards, while contributing to

Ezekiel Elliott Ezekiel Elijah Elliott (born July 22, 1995) is an American football running back for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State, where he earned second-team All-America honors in 2015. Elli ...

being the NFL rushing champion.

2019

In 2019, although

left via

free agency In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is ...

returned to play professional football after spending one season as a ''

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...

'' commentator, keeping Schultz as the team's third-string tight end. He appeared in 16 games, registering one reception for six yards and one kickoff return for five yards in limited play during the season.

2020

On March 17, 2020, it was announced in the media that

would be leaving the Cowboys to sign with the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West divis ...

, opening the door for Schultz to compete for the backup position behind

. After Jarwin was lost for the year with an ACL injury suffered in the season opener against the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

, Schultz took over the starting tight end position. In Week 2 against the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

, Schultz caught nine passes for 88 yards and his first career touchdown reception during the 40–39 comeback victory. Schultz exceeded expectations, becoming the fourth tight end in franchise history to have at least 60 receptions in a regular season (63), while collecting 615 receiving yards and four touchdowns, even though the Cowboys lost their starting quarterback

Dak Prescott Rayne Dakota Prescott (born July 29, 1993) is an American football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Mississippi State, where he twice received first-team All- SEC honors, a ...

in Week 5 against the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

2021

The 2021 season would see Schultz have career highs in every statistical category, accumulating 78 receptions, 808 yards and 8 touchdowns (tied for team lead).

2022

On March 8, 2022, the Cowboys placed the franchise tag on Schultz, worth $10.9 million.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Postseason

Personal life

Schultz and his wife, Laurel Heinrich, have a son and a daughter.

References

External links

Dallas Cowboys bioStanford Cardinal bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schultz, Dalton 1996 births Living people American people of German descent People from South Jordan, Utah Players of American football from Utah American football tight ends Stanford Cardinal football players Dallas Cowboys players