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Dallas Cowboys tight end Michael Trigg played college football for USC, Ole Miss, and Baylor.

The Dallas Cowboys already have a really good group in place at tight end, with $50 million Pro Bowler Jake Ferguson and 6-foot-7, 270-pound backup Brevynn Spann-Ford leading the charge.

Even with those 2, the Cowboys will almost certainly keep a 3rd tight end on the roster, and Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox predicted that will be undrafted free agent Michael Trigg.

In a year where the Cowboys went super-heavy on defense in the NFL draft, Trigg might be able to make a big impression on the lineup after the disappointment of not hearing his name called.

“Seeing tight end Michael Trigg go undrafted was one of the bigger surprises of Day 3,” Knox wrote. “He was the third-ranked tight end on the B/R board, the 77th-ranked prospect overall, and a player who justifiably could have been selected on Day 2. It’s almost as if teams forgot that Trigg was in the draft pool. The Dallas Cowboys didn’t forget about Trigg after the draft. According to Spotrac, his UDFA deal will include $200,000 in guarantees and a $25,000 signing bonus.”

Michael Trigg Seemed Like Surefire Draft Pick

Trigg’s name continued to pop up in 7-round mock drafts all the way to the days leading up to the draft, so all 32 teams ignoring him for all 7 rounds was a shock.

Trigg has the right size, at 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds, but character concerns may have forced him to go the undrafted free agent route.

Not only did Trigg play for 3 different colleges in 5 seasons — USC, Ole Miss, and Baylor — and was suspended 2 different times at Ole Miss and at Baylor.

Even with that, Trigg’s talent seemed too enticing to pass up. He was a 2-time All-Big 12 selection at Baylor and earned All-American honors in 2025 with his best season yet, with career highs of 50 receptions for 694 yards and 6 touchdowns.

NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein projected Trigg as a 6th or 7th round pick.

Just weeks before the draft, ESPN’s 3-round mock draft predicted Trigg to the Philadelphia Eagles in the 3rd round (No. 98 overall).

Bleacher Report’s 3-round mock draft following the NFL scouting combine predicted Trigg to the Denver Broncos in the 2nd round (No. 62 overall).

“Philly needs an upgrade at tight end with Dallas Goedert on the decline and set to be a free agent in 2027,” ESPN’s Matt Miller wrote. “Trigg has the speed and power to be a starter-level player.”

Spann-Ford’s Presence May Have Impacted Draft

The Cowboys’ decision not to draft a tight end appears largely centered around the confidence they have in Spann-Ford, who has proven to be a reliable backup to Ferguson over the last 2 seasons.

If Trigg were to make the 3-deep, it would mean 2 of the Cowboys’ tight ends were undrafted free agents.

Spann-Ford wasn’t selected in the 2024 NFL draft despite, like Trigg, being projected as a Day 2 or Day 3 pick, and after he had 90 receptions for 1,032 yards and 5 touchdowns over his final 3 seasons at the University of Minnesota, then doubled down by running the 40-yard dash in 4.77 seconds at the NFL scouting combine.

“I’ll never forget this feeling,” Spann-Ford wrote on his official X account after he went undrafted. “Right back to work.”