![\"Josh](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2246368642-e1774979474419.jpg\")
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Alabama tight end Josh Cuevas. <\/p>\n
The Dallas Cowboys<\/a> have an elite tight end in Jake Ferguson<\/a> and are paying him like it, handing the veteran a 4-year, $50 million contract extension before the 2025 season.<\/p>\n Behind Ferguson, though, there\u2019s some uncertainty at the position \u2014 something that ESPN\u2019s Matt Miller predicts<\/a> the Cowboys will address in the 2026 NFL draft when they select 6-foot-3, 245-pound Alabama tight end Josh Cuevas in the 5th round (No. 152 overall).<\/p>\n Cuevas could be the type of player who plays multiple positions and serves as a backup not just to Ferguson but also to fullback Hunter Luepke<\/a> when needed.<\/p>\n \u201cCuevas\u2019 lack of ideal measurables could push some evaluators to slap him with a fullback label, but \u2018combo tight end\u2019 fits best,\u201d NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote<\/a>. \u201cHe attacks blocking assignments with better toughness and technique than most in the class. He squares blocks and strains to sustain whether in-line, from the slot or as a lead blocker. Cuevas pairs burst\/route knowledge to compete against man coverage over the first two levels, and is a reliable target in traffic. He\u2019s a well-rounded talent with the demeanor to become a productive pro.\u201d<\/p>\n At the NFL<\/a> scouting combine, Cuevas did nothing but help his draft stock by running the 40-yard dash in 4.65 seconds.<\/p>\n Alabama 3rd College Stop for Josh Cuevas<\/p>\n The Crimson Tide were the 3rd college team for Cuevas, a Los Angeles native who played his 1st 2 seasons as a walk-on at Cal Poly before spending 1 season at Washington in 2023, before playing for Alabama the last 2 seasons.<\/p>\n In his final 4 college seasons, Cuevas had 115 receptions for 1,471 yards and 12 touchdowns, including 37 receptions for 411 yards and 4 touchdowns in 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cJosh Cuevas offers multi-positional versatility at the tight end position to play in the slot, out wide, and at H-back for an offense,\u201d Bleacher Report\u2019s Daniel Harms wrote<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s been a do-it-all player for the Crimson Tide with marked improvement over his two seasons there. A functional blocker from multiple alignments, smooth route-running chops, and special-teams experience give Cuevas a path to an NFL role quickly. Truly a tough competitor, Cuevas broke his foot in November and returned to play in just over a month.\u201d<\/p>\n Cowboys Might Have Surprise Star in Massive TE<\/p>\n The Cowboys may already have their solution as Ferguson\u2019s backup with 6-foot-7, 270-pound 3rd year tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford<\/a>, who is only scheduled to make $1.075 million this season.<\/p>\n The Athletic\u2019s Jon Machota<\/a> singled out Spann-Ford in a breakdown of the Cowboys\u2019 post-free agency depth chart.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is considered to be a good tight end draft,\u201d Machota wrote. \u201cHowever, the Cowboys aren\u2019t expected to go in that direction. It would not be a surprise to see them enter the season with this group. Spann-Ford is the most intriguing. He seems to have just scratched the surface with his potential as a blocker and pass catcher.\u201d<\/p>\n After going undrafted out of the University of Minnesota in 2024,\u00a0Spann-Ford has played in every regular-season game the last 2 seasons \u2014 34 consecutive games \u2014 with 18 receptions for 178 yards on just 27 targets. He also made his first 5 career starts in 2025 and scored his 1st career touchdown in a 24-21 comeback win over the\u00a0Philadelphia Eagles<\/a>\u00a0in Week 12.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTony Adame<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Cowboys\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Alabama tight end Josh Cuevas. The Dallas Cowboys have an elite tight end in Jake Ferguson and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2066],"tags":[230,229,257,2461,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-847237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-cowboys","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-cowboys","11":"tag-dallascowboys","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116329904041060151","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}