The Dallas Cowboys are known to move players from one position to another during the offseason. Most of the transitions happen when a player is in danger of losing his roster spot because there is an abundance of competition for the current position. Sometimes, the move works out splendidly as it did recently with making linebacker Keith Smith one of the league’s better blocking fullbacks. It might just be time for Dallas to try its hand at another transition.

The Cowboys should investigate moving second-year wide receiver Noah Brown to a pass-catching tight end position.

Brown came into the league as a seventh-round pick out of Ohio State, standing 6-foot-2 and weighing 222 pounds. He’s a physically imposing force as a wideout, though currently undersized for the tight end position. His run blocking as a rookie was rather impressive, as Pro Football Focus gave him the best grade among Cowboys’ wideouts at the skill on 113 run-block snaps.

This wouldn’t be unprecedented at all. Six years ago, Washington suggested a similar transition for their bottom-roster wide receiver Niles Paul. Paul features a similar build as Brown, standing 6-foot-1 and weighing 224 pounds when entering the league out of Nebraska.

Paul was a quicker athlete than Brown is, running a 4.45 40-yard time at the combine, while Brown ran just a 4.57 at his pro day. Brown seems to offer more upside as a natural pass-catcher.

For Paul, gaining weight in the offseason was the norm. After his rookie campaign as a receiver, then head coach Mike Shanahan called him in the offseason and told him to keep the weight.

This was after Washington had acquired two receivers in free agency that pushed Paul deep down the depth chart. Dallas has lost Dez Bryant and Brice Butler but signed Allen Hurns and Deonte Thompson, then drafted two players who lined up primarily as X receivers in college, Michael Gallup and Cedrick Wilson.

With the retirements of Jason Witten and James Hanna, Dallas has a wide-open competition at tight end right now. Brown’s four receptions in 2017 are more than Geoff Swaim, Blake Jarwin and Rico Gathers — the three returning tight ends — had combined. Swaim is the career leader among the group with just nine receptions.

Running routes as a tight end would be something pretty easy for Brown to pick up. It’s the blocking aspect that would be harder, as it was for Paul initially, from the Washington Post in August 2012:

While learning the tight end’s responsibilities in the passing game has been fairly easy for Paul, the nuances of the blocking schemes in the run game have taken longer to soak in. On the first day of training camp, Paul, confused as to which defender he was supposed to block on various run plays, said he looked at tight ends coach Sean McVay at one point and wondered: “Is this really what y’all want me to do?”

Since then, Davis and Cooley have reassured Paul that he’ll pick up the blocking assignments.

Paul peaked production-wise in 2014 when he brought in 39 receptions for 507 yards, playing both wideout and tight end. He was always stuck behind players such as Chris Cooley, Jordan Reed and Vernon Davis, though. Nobody of that caliber is currently on the Cowboys roster, despite the fans’ belief in Rico Gathers and the scouting staff’s belief in Blake Jarwin.

There’s no guarantee the transition would work as it did for Paul, just as there’s no guarantee Brown would make the roster if he sticks at wideout. However a switch could increase Brown’s chances of making an impact on the Cowboys moving forward were he able to transition to the move tight end position.

In a quest for creativity and trying to get the best players on the field, it’s a consideration worth exploring for the Dallas coaching staff.