Dalton Schultz

Dalton Chase Schultz (born July 11, 1996) is an American football tight end for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Stanford and was selected by the Cowboys in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

Early life
Schultz attended Bingham High School in South Jordan, Utah. Along with football, he played basketball for the Miners athletic teams. As a senior, he caught 31 passes for 512 yards and nine touchdowns.

For his high school career, he had 76 receptions for 1,120 yards and 12 touchdowns. He committed to play college football for the Stanford Cardinal in January 2014.

College career
Schultz accepted a football scholarship from Stanford University. He did not see any action as a true freshman in 2014 and was redshirted.

In 2015 as a redshirt freshman, he played in all 14 games as a backup to Austin Hooper, catching 10 passes for 121 yards and one touchdown.

As a sophomore in 2016, he was named the starter after Hooper declared for the NFL Draft. He played in all 13 games, having 23 receptions for 222 yards (fourth on the team) and one touchdown. He helped block for running backs Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love, while receiving honorable-mention All-Pac-12 honors.

Prior to the 2017 season, Schultz was named to the John Mackey Award watch list. In 13 games he was used mostly as a blocker, catching 22 passes for 212 yards (fifth on the team) and three touchdowns, while helping running back Love rush for 2,118 yards. He was named to the All-Pac-12 First-team, declaring for the 2018 NFL Draft after the season.

2018 season
Schultz was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round (137th overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft, to improve the depth at tight end after the surprising retirements of Jason Witten and James Hanna. He was the third-string tight end behind Geoff Swaim and Blake Jarwin.

After Swaim was lost to an injury in Week 11, Schultz passed Jarwin on the depth chart as the starter and was used mostly for blocking purposes. He started seven of the eleven games he played and both playoff contests. He tallied 12 receptions for 116 yards, while contributing to running back Ezekiel Elliott being the NFL rushing champion.

2019 season
Although tight end Swaim left via free agency, Witten returned to play professional football after spending one season as a Monday Night Football commentator, keeping Schultz as the team's third-string tight end. He appeared in 16 games, registering one reception for six yards and one kickoff return for five yards in limited play during the season.

2020 season
On March 17, 2020, it was announced in the media that Witten would be leaving the Cowboys to sign with the Las Vegas Raiders, opening the door for Schultz to compete for the backup position behind Blake Jarwin. After Jarwin was lost for the year with an ACL injury suffered in the season opener against the Los Angeles Rams, Schultz took over the starting tight end position.

In Week 2 against the Atlanta Falcons, Schultz caught nine passes for 88 yards and his first career touchdown reception during the 40–39 comeback victory. Schultz exceeded expectations, becoming the fourth tight end in franchise history to have at least 60 receptions in a regular season (63), while collecting 615 receiving yards and four touchdowns, even though the Cowboys lost their starting quarterback Dak Prescott in Week 5 against the New York Giants.

2021 season
Schultz started 15 out of 17 games, registering career highs in every statistical category with 78 receptions (second on the team), 808 yards (third on the team) and 8 touchdowns (tied for team lead). He became the second tight end in franchise history to reach 70 receptions in a single-season and the seventh to have over 100 receptions in his career.

He had 6 receptions for 80 yards and 2 touchdowns in the third game against the Philadelphia Eagles. He made 6 receptions for 58 yards and one touchdown in the fourth against the Carolina Panthers. He had 6 receptions for 79 yards in the fifth game against the Giants. He made 6 receptions for 53 yards and one touchdown in the tenth game against the Kansas City Chiefs. He had 8 receptions for 67 yards and one touchdown in the fourteenth game against the Giants. He made 8 receptions for 82 yards and one touchdown in the fifteenth game against the Washington Football Team. He had 2 touchdowns on three receptions for 21 yards in the season finale against the Eagles.

He led the team in receptions (7) and receiving yards (89) in the Wild Card 17–23 playoff loss against the San Francisco 49ers.

2022 season
The Cowboys decided to place the franchise tag on Schultz before the start of the season. He opted to miss the final week of voluntary organized team activities and was a limited participant in one minicamp practice in hopes of reaching an agreement on a long-term deal, which did not happen.

The expectation was for Schultz to be close to his 2021 level of play and help reduce the blow of Amari Cooper's departure, but he was not able to achieve the same type of production. He posted 63 receptions for 615 yards and 4 touchdowns. One area where Schultz experienced success was as a red zone target, especially toward the end of the season, where he had seven touchdowns in the final nine games and scored 3 times in the two playoff games.

Schultz struggled with a PCL injury he suffered in the fourth quarter of the second game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He reaggravated the injury in the fifth game against the Rams and in the seventh game against the Detroit Lions. The Cowboys also involved rookie tight ends Jake Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot in the offense, that also took away some of his potential snaps and opportunities.

He had 7 receptions for 62 yards in the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He made 6 receptions for 74 yards in the eighth game against the Chicago Bears. He had 4 receptions for 31 yards and 2 touchdowns in the eleventh game against the Giants. He made 7 receptions for 62 yards in the thirteenth game against the Houston Texans. He had 7 receptions for 56 yards and 2 touchdowns in the sixteenth game against the Tennessee Titans.

Houston Texans
On March 24, 2023, Schultz signed with the Texans. He finished the season with 59 catches for 635 yards and five touchdowns.

On March 8, 2024, Schultz signed a three-year, $36 million contract extension with the Texans.

Personal life
Schultz and his wife, Laurel Heinrich, have a son and a daughter.