Whether or not Jake Ferguson will suit up and play when the Cowboys host Minnesota on Sunday night seems to depend heavily on who you ask. Ferguson himself didn’t necessarily sound sure when asked Friday morning. Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones was far more confident a few hours later, after reporting that the tight end had “a good day” of practice.
In between those two updates, though, head coach Brian Schottenheimer hedged his bets.
“We’ll have someone ready to go if Fergie can’t answer the bell, [but] I think Fergie will answer the bell,” Schottenheimer told media members Friday in a pre-practice Q&A session.
Even so, he spent an awful lot of time hyping up his Plan B at the position.
The issue is a calf injury that put Ferguson on the first practice report of the week on Wednesday. Schottenheimer called it “just a little tweak” that occurred in practice and left him as a non-participant on Thursday.
Friday morning, the fourth-year man himself certainly didn’t sound 100% about his availability.
“We’ll see. Day-by-day right now, but feeling good,” Ferguson told 105.3 The Fan during his weekly call-in.
Later in the day, Jones was far more optimistic following a solid practice from the 26-year-old, saying, “Barring a setback… the expectation is for him to go.”
Ferguson was listed as “limited” on the day and is officially classified as questionable to play in Week 15.
Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones on @1053thefan on TE Jake Ferguson (calf): “I think we’re gonna be good. He had a good day today, which is what we were looking for. Barring a setback … the expectation is for him to go (Sunday night).”
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) December 12, 2025
But Schottenheimer expressed a belief that the team would be just fine even if Ferguson- who is second on the team in targets, receptions, and receiving touchdowns- takes a downward turn before Sunday night.
While Luke Schoonmaker, the depth chart’s official TE2, is “getting more and more comfortable and confident in our system,” per Schottenheimer, the coach spent far more time giving glowing reviews to another rising contributor.
“That tight end room that we’ve built, I think, is an incredible room in terms of the talent,” Schottenheimer said. “But the physicality that Brevyn Spann-Ford plays with is different. It is unique. This guy plays with violence. This guy finishes. This guy is a lot like Fergie in terms of [being] the enforcer.”
Spann-Ford has indeed built on a promising rookie year. In addition to playing on almost half the Cowboys’ special teams snaps so far in 2025, the undrafted free agent out of Minnesota has started to get himself noticed in the passing game. Though he’s been targeted just seven times this season, he’s reeled in six of those passes, including a key touchdown versus Philadelphia in Week 12.
Cowboys are back within one score!
PHIvsDAL on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVntpic.twitter.com/1vrdjQEf6L
— NFL (@NFL) November 23, 2025
Schottenheimer spotlighted the work Spann-Ford has put in on his pass-catching skills in his second year as a pro.
“That’s probably the biggest thing that he’s moved up in,” the coach said. “We’ve always seen his length and his power that he can generate from his lower body- his lower body is incredibly powerful- but the work that he’s done in terms of improving as a pass-catcher… The catch he made last week on the over route that Dak threw high and he kind of took the hit? I don’t know if he makes that play a year or so ago. He works incredibly hard at it.”
Spann-Ford obviously has a long way to go before he supplants Ferguson- who currently ranks ninth in the NFL in receptions- in the Cowboys’ high-volume passing attack.
But if the former Wisconsin product’s calf does end up keeping him out of Sunday’s contest, the Cowboys seem confident in their backup plan.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: TE Jake Ferguson questionable to play, but Cowboys confident in Plan B
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