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Jason Witten retired after the 2017 season. He returned after the 2018 season.

Witten turns 37 next month and hasn’t played in 16 months, but after two months in the offseason program, the Cowboys tight end is confident he can contribute again.

“I think there’s some gas in the tank,” Witten said Wednesday at the SMU Athletic Forum, via Mike Leslie of WFAA. “. . .I know what kind of standards I put for myself. The last thing I want to do is be a bad version of that coming back. I knew when you make a decision like that, it’s not to just come back. The most important thing I can do in this return is be the best football player I can be.”

How much gas? Witten isn’t ruling out playing more than one more season.

This is his 16th in the NFL.

“I think it’s still up in the air,” Witten said. “You’ve got to let it play out. Look, it’s a show me game, and I approach it like I’m a rookie because those 1,100 catches don’t matter. I truly feel I’ve got to prove it, and not with a chip on my shoulder or anything like that, but you’ve got to go show it. That’s the challenge.”

Witten has 1,152 catches for 12,448 yards and 68 touchdowns in his career.