Entering his third season for the Dallas Cowboys, Rico Gathers knows there's a bubble beneath him.

Two offseasons ago, the team took a sixth-round flyer on him in the NFL Draft, hoping to turn a long shot project into one of the best stories in the league. Having not played organized football since junior high, it would be a monumental feat to convert the former Baylor hoops star into not only a tight end -- but one at the professional level. The belief in him was strong and, after all, it was only a late-round pick being risked. The percentage of those players who make NFL rosters isn't impressive, and the chances they go on to dominate in the leagues are that much slimmer.

Paying him just below the 53rd-man's salary to keep him from being woo'd while on the team's practice squad after failing to make the final roster cut in his rookie season, the Cowboys were effectively all-in to see Gathers morph into a force at the position.

That was then, and this is now.

Two seasons in, he's not played a single regular season snap despite having the ability to after being cleared in Week 7 from a concussion suffered during what was shaping up to be an impressive preseason. The Cowboys instead opted to leave him on the sidelines and instead promote then-rookie Blake Jarwin from the practice squad to the team's active roster, preventing the Philadelphia Eagles from signing him away. If those two decisions weren't ominous enough, they went on to select former Stanford standout Dalton Schultz in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draft, one day after news broke on Jason Witten heavily considering retirement.

If the Cowboys are still believers in Gathers, they're not showing it.

Head coach Jason Garrett made it clear Gathers "needs more football", going on to point out that although he's doing well in the passing game, his understanding of the run game is far from adequate. That's a big deal on a team who's success lives and dies on the legs of running back Ezekiel Elliott and Co., and Gathers isn't shying away from that criticism.

Speaking recently with Matt Mosley and Ed Werder on The Doomsday Podcast, he readily admits Garrett is correct, but feels he still brings value to the table.

"The running game, that’s not really my strong suit, I’m not even going to lie," said Gathers. "I’m not going to sugar coat it. I’m pretty sure that Jimmy Graham, the running game wasn’t his strong suit too, but he’s a five-time Pro Bowler. ...[who had] 492 yards and he made the Pro Bowl. I think for the most part it’s one of those things you just have to work at each and every day.

"I feel like for a guy like me, I don’t feel like that should hold me back from contributing."

A noble thought, but it doesn't hold water when looking at the Cowboys' offensive scheme. It's one designed to seek out tight ends who can block well first and catch well second, versus the inverse. The team has tried it's hand more than once in recent history at squeezing in an athletic TE who left something to be desired when it came to helping the run game, and Gavin Escobar can attest there's an exceedingly short leash in Dallas for such. To make matters worse for Gathers in this regard, perspective-wise, Escobar was a second-round pick who didn't land a second contract.

Gathers, again, didn't get the call until the draft was nearly over.

So while he is correct in acknowledging his ability to be a red-zone target, being a one-sided bullseye simply tips the Cowboys' hand to the opposing defensive coordinator whenever Gathers trots out.

In other words, if Gathers is on the field and the defense knows he's a weak blocker, then it's likely either a pass play or a run to the opposite side -- for example. Even if that's not the correct guess, statistically speaking, it'll often be more right than wrong. For a team whose offense was unapologetically predictable in 2017, costing them several games in the process (injuries notwithstanding), that's not exactly an attractive sell for his retention.

It's made all the more difficult by the reality of Geoff Swaim's skins on the wall, their love of Jarwin and the fact Schultz brings everything to the table they're looking for right now. There's also undrafted free agent David Wells in the mix, who wants a shot at making his own dreams come true.

Gathers wants to make "somebody's 53-man roster" in 2018 and if it's to be the Cowboys', he knows what he has to do, and he no longer has a lot of time to do it.