Saturday was a wild day as far as the Dallas Cowboys go. They released Dan Bailey for crying out loud.

Due to how hectic the day was it’s possible that something went over your head a bit. Rico Gathers made the Dallas Cowboys 53-man roster. AND HE DID IT THE MORNING AFTER HE HAD BEEN ARRESTED.

There are many Cowboys fans who have been wanting this with all their might, so I’m sure if you fall in that camp you’re more overjoyed than surprised, but there are definitely those that were shocked by it. Gathers wasn’t utilized all that much in the preseason, and it’s not like the Cowboys have spoken glowingly of him since the offseason began. His now-real roster spot is definitely an upset of sorts.

Rico’s roster spot is definitely a surprise

The Cowboys handled Gathers very, what’s the word, precariously last season when he also made the roster. It’s true that Gathers made the team a year ago, but it was more of a formality than anything as he was put on injured reserve immediately after, never to be seen again on the year.

This year is very different. Rico Gathers made the team and is fully healthy (although we’ll see what comes of his arrest, hopefully nothing). Dallas wouldn’t have kept Rico on their squad if they didn’t plan on using him so we have to ask... are the Cowboys actually going to use Rico Gathers?

As impossible as it felt like this might have been at any point, it seems like the answer to this question is simply that they do plan on using Rico. It feels like forever ago, but we saw what the big-time tight end was capable of as far as redzone weapons are concerned during last year’s preseason, maybe the Cowboys are going to do that in games that count.

Could the Cowboys use Rico as their redzone specialist? Kind of like a receiver they let walk over the offseason?

Rico Gathers is not Dez Bryant. He will never be Dez Bryant. Let’s make that clear.

While Gathers will never be who the Cowboys all-time leader in receiving touchdowns was, it’s possible that the team uses him like they used Dez. At the very end of Bryant’s time in Dallas he was a redzone weapon at best, is that not what Gathers specializes in?

It’s possible that Gathers develops into a total and complete tight end, but that would still take some time to accomplish. People wondered how the Cowboys were going to replace Dez offensively and while they have other players to do that in between the 20s, is Gathers partly how they’re going to address that absence in the paint?

This would be capitalizing on Gathers’ greatest skills as a football player and whether you’ve championed his cause or insisted that he wasn’t a great overall player, we all know this to be true. Keeping Gathers helps the Cowboys excel, at the very least, in one specific department and that department is the one where you obtain points. It would be a good idea to do this.

It’s one thing for the Cowboys to have Gathers on a 90-man roster and not give him chances in the preseason. It would be a whole different level of frustrating if they did this during the regular season. For that reason and that reason alone, it makes sense that they’re planning on riding this wave.

While there are certainly Gathers supporters, there’s nobody saying that he’s a player that’s definitely going to set offensive records; however, he can be someone that helps. It’s time to use that help.

Hopefully this is what the Cowboys have realized over the course of who knows how long. It’s Rico Gathers time, and it seems like they agree.