Jason Witten Joining The MNF Crew Is The Cowboy Thing To Do

Amid much speculation, future hall of fame Dallas Cowboys TE Jason Witten called it a career on Thursday, after 15 highly productive seasons. The 35-year-old will immediately join the new Monday Night Football broadcast team, along with new play-by-play man Joe Tessitore.

Kind of quietly, Witten posted some great stats, including 12,448 receiving yards, 1,152 catches and 68 touchdowns. Only Tony Gonzalez has more catches and yards at the position.

Interestingly, this is the second straight season that an iconic Cowboy retired and then went directly into the booth. Witten follows in the footsteps of Tony Romo, who joined CBS's top team alongside Jim Nantz.

With Jon Gruden going back to coaching the Raiders and Sean McDonough returning to college football play-by-play, Witten and Tessitore will enjoy a more attractive game schedule than the network had dealt with in previous years.

Witten joins Romo (CBS) and Troy Aikman (FOX), as former Dallas players that currently hold a network’s top color analyst position.

When factoring in Jimmy Johnson’s presence on FOX NFL Sunday, Deion Sanders and Michael Irvin’s work with NFL Network, as well as Daryl "Moose" Johnston’s long run in the FOX booth, like them or not, the power that comes with being a member of “America’s Team” can never be underestimated.