Five years after having been the 137th overall pick in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draft out of Stanford, Dalton Schultz found he was the odd man out by the Dallas Cowboys team that drafted him. 

The Cowboys no longer appeared to have much use for Schultz, who said in 2022 that he was fortunate to have had the opportunity that Dallas gave him. 

"Obviously, I think this is the place that I want to be," Schultz said in a statement on the Cowboys’ Website. "I've got a good rapport with a lot of the guys here. I love being here. I love this organization.” 

Sometimes though, the organization may not love you back and you may not be able to sign that long-term deal. 

Enter the Houston Texans, who were able to sign Schultz to a one-year, $6.25 million deal in 2023—essentially a prove-it contract in layman’s terms. 

Though the Bingham Miner’s market value was arguably significantly higher than the deal he inked—and the Cowboys had offered a 3-year, $36 million deal that Schultz himself turned down—he did have to settle for significantly less than what he believed his market value was. 

You can’t fault Schultz for that, for the Bingham product has done over a 5-year period what he has to do to deserve a longer deal. 

Schultz was able to prove as much this season, his finest season yet. 

The 6-foot-5-inch, 244-pound tight end had 59 receptions for the Texans, good for 635 yards and five touchdowns—numbers that helped lead Houston to the NFL Playoffs, where it won the Wildcard game over Cleveland thanks in part to Schultz’s 37-yard touchdown catch in a 45-14 win on Jan. 13. 

With that victory, Schultz’s Texans advanced to the NFL Divisional Playoffs, where their season ended on Jan. 20 in a 34-10 loss. 

"Every week it's going to be a fight one way or another," Schultz said back in Week 5 when Houston lost a nailbiter to New Orleans, 21-19. "We just didn't make enough plays."

For Schultz though, betting on himself has paid off and you probably could’ve said the same thing about his team’s performance in the season-ending loss to Baltimore. 

Naturally, nobody on the Texans had much to say about the season’s curtains drawing to a close. 

But you still get the sense that even with that disappointment, a new and much better contract has been earned by this Bingham Miner, who proved he was worth his weight in gold. λ