Cole Beasley doesn't need a lot of prodding to bring up how much he thinks outsiders will overlook Dallas receivers now that the Cowboys have moved on from Dez Bryant.

The new dean of the group sees opportunity rather than uncertainty at a position that lacks a big name Josh Rosen Jersey Cardinals , and the history of big production that usually goes with it.

Dallas isn't necessarily looking for a new No. 1 receiver while also trying to replace 15-year tight end Jason Witten, who retired as the franchise leader in catches and yards. Headlined by holdovers Beasley and Terrance Williams and newcomers Allen Hurns and Tavon Austin, the Cowboys think their strength could be in numbers 鈥?and matchups.

"They're giving everybody an opportunity to do everything," said Beasley, who is going into his seventh season. "This is the most open it's ever been since I've been here as far as who's where. That makes it a lot of fun. And it's exciting to see what everybody can do."

The Cowboys cut Bryant , the club's career leader with 73 touchdowns receiving, in a cost-cutting move after three subpar years under the big contract he signed after his only All-Pro season in 2014.

The thing is, Bryant's replacements are coming off subpar years as well.

Beasley's catches and yards fell by more than half from career highs in 2016. Williams didn't have a touchdown for the first time in his five seasons, and became an off-field concern with an arrest in a public intoxication case.

Hurns, a free agent addition going into his fifth season, didn't reach 500 yards in either of his two years in Jacksonville since the only 1,000-yard season among the 12 receivers that Dallas currently plans to take to training camp late next month.

Austin, a bust as the eighth overall pick in 2013 by the Rams when they were still in St. Louis, was mostly a spectator for the most dramatic turnaround in the NFL last year. The Los Angeles Rams took the NFC West at 11-5 with the franchise's first winning season since 2003. The Cowboys traded for him during the draft.

"We're all coming off years that we're not so proud of," said Hurns Cheap Jessie Bates III Jersey , who also has the only double-digit touchdown season in the group with 10 in 2015, when he had 1,031 yards. "We've all got that motivation to come in and do well. What people talk about, it just adds fuel to the fire. But that's not our pure motivation."

Hurns didn't want to overlook the rookies in a group with something to prove, and there are two to watch. Michael Gallup was the first receiver the Cowboys have drafted post-Bryant 鈥?a third-rounder out of Colorado State. Dallas took Cedrick Wilson from Boise State in the sixth round.

It's likely to be a while before practice is any indication of how the receivers might line up for the opener Sept. 9 at Carolina. For one thing, Williams wasn't on the field during offseason practices because he broke his right foot in January and had surgery.

Nearly everyone has had first-team work with quarterback Dak Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliott, the only sure things at the skill positions on offense right now for the Cowboys.

"There's a big hole," Gallup said. "There's a lot of open space in there. It just opens your eyes if you're a rookie, honestly. You can come in here and potentially start Day 1. That role is something that everybody wants to go get. That's what we're trying to do."

There's a new coach to go with all those new receivers as well. Sanjay Lal replaced Derek Dooley as part of an overhaul of coach Jason Garrett's staff.

"I'm excited to see how it shakes out," Lal said. "I couldn't tell you who the six or five or however many we keep are going to be, and that's exciting to me. And for them it should be exciting. Gives you all the motivation you need."

Prescott planned to get together with the receivers during the break between minicamp and training camp. The third-year QB envisioned a gathering away from Dallas, working out in the morning and hanging out in the afternoon.

Looking for a bounce-back himself after the Cowboys missed the playoffs a year after he was the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year for the NFC East champs, Prescott won't be trying to force the ball to a No. 1 receiver. That happened at times with Bryant.

"I think when you come out of minicamp, you kind of see that, when you see all the different guys we're throwing to Mike Marjama Seattle Mariners Jersey , the different guys that are running with the ones, different guys that are running with the twos," Prescott said. "It's about spreading the ball around, just going to the right place with the ball."

Prescott will have plenty of motivated targets.

"I think last season was a good thing for all of us," Beasley said. "It added like a hunger to our group. A lot of people pushed us to the side this offseason and they're sleeping on us, but that gives us a chance to prove a lot of people wrong."

When Geoff Swaim glances around the film room at his fellow tight ends with the Dallas Cowboys, he doesn't see Jason Witten anymore.

As for what's showing on the screen, Swaim can't help but see familiar No. 82 because the franchise leader in games was on the field nearly every snap for 15 years before his sudden retirement to go into broadcasting last month.

"Well, it's hard to watch film and not have Witt in the film. You know what I mean?" Swaim said with a chuckle Wednesday after the final voluntary offseason practice before mandatory minicamp next week.

"I don't know what tape you can bring up of the Cowboys in any sort of relevant way that Witt's not on the field. It's always him. It's always him. It's always him. And it's that way for a reason."

Swaim is the team's oldest tight end at 24 with nine regular-season catches and 94 yards to show for his first three years in the league. That's nine catches and 94 yards more than any of the other four 鈥?and 1,143 catches and 12,354 yards fewer than Witten, the club leader in both.

The next-oldest tight end? Rico Gathers, the former Baylor basketball standout who hadn't played football in nearly a decade when the Cowboys drafted him two years ago. He's 24, but four months younger than Swaim.

Next is Blake Jarwin, a second-year player who got in one game last season after the Cowboys activated him from the practice squad. Rookie Dalton Schultz Authentic Rashaad Penny Jersey , a fourth-round pick in April, was 6 when the Cowboys drafted Witten in 2003. The fifth tight end is undrafted rookie David Wells.

"Everybody has to start a game at some point in time, or play a first play at some point in time," new tight ends coach Doug Nussmeier said. "I don't look at it as a negative."

The Cowboys had some experience besides Witten after last season, but James Hanna beat the 11-time Pro Bowl player to retirement by a couple of weeks. The 28-year-old Hanna had persistent knee issues.

The player most likely to do a double take was Swaim, a seventh-round pick out of Texas in 2015. In a matter of days, he went from understudy still building his resume to the only Dallas tight end with one.

"It was sort of overnight," Swaim said. "But again you have to adjust and move on. That's how everyone approached it, 'Wow, OK, here's what's in front of us now.' It doesn't do me any good to look in the past. It doesn't do me any good to go, 'What's going on?'"

Gathers missed all of last season with a concussion after an impressive preseason that raised hopes about his development. It was a significant setback for someone with little football background who chose the NFL over the NBA because he thought it was his best shot at a pro career.

Now, though, Witten's retirement has left the position wide open for the 6-foot-8, 285-pound Gathers Cheap Justin Jones Jersey , who hasn't played in the regular season yet.

"There's really no major opportunity to really do anything of growth from as far as expecting to play, expecting to take snaps from him because he's not supposed to let that happen," Gather said. "It opens up windows for everybody to be able to come in and prove themselves."

Schultz, who played at Stanford, saw reports of Witten drawing interest from the networks the way longtime friend and teammate Tony Romo did a year earlier when the former Cowboys quarterback decided to retire rather than play for another team after losing his job to Dak Prescott.

It's only natural for draft prospects to ponder the idea of replacing a franchise icon such as Witten, who was days from turning 36 when he retired. It just doesn't get much past the pondering.

"It's all speculation, right?" Schultz said. "I think people try to do their best at like, hey, there's a potential fit. But in reality, you're going to go to whoever you're going to go and that's just how it's going to be."

Now the question is who says how it's going to be in the tight end room for the Cowboys. And if anyone says it's automatically Swaim, he would disagree. He has a new favorite word for how that leadership grows: organic.

"We're figuring things out together," Swaim said. "There's no need for me to be in there yelling at somebody who's a year younger than me. That doesn't make sense. That wouldn't be right."

Just as it doesn't seem right for him to glance around the room and not see Witten.

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