The Cowboys drafted Jalen Tolbert in the third round. They nearly took him in the second. But the rookie wide receiver from South Alabama could end up being even far more valuable than that.
It’s been just rookie minicamp, one weekend of work. And fairly light-duty work at that. But Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore already likes what he’s seen.
“He’s awesome,” Moore said of Tolbert after just the first day. “I think he works his tail off. I think you can tell how prepared he is and how detailed he wants to be. I think he’s going to be a really good addition for us.”
But that addition may be able to multiply his worth to the Dallas roster by serving in several different roles.
“We’ll try to get him to learn as many spots as possible,” Moore previewed. “We’ll start him in a Z-type position, maybe play him in the slot. We’ll get him moved all around the field. We like to do that with a number of our receivers, so we’ll do the same thing with him.”
The 23-year-old says he’s more than ready for that kind of multitasking, thanks to his experience at the college level under the tutelage of a former Texas legend.
“Two years ago, I really just played outside receiver. And this past year, Major Applewhite, my OC, brought down the pro-style system.”
Applewhite was the Longhorns’ prolific quarterback from 1998 to 2001 and still holds a handful of school passing records. Now the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for the South Alabama Jaguars, he helped develop Tolbert into the Sun Belt Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year last season.
“I was able to play the 3, 2, 1, single, wherever they put me at; I played multiple spots in the game. I think that’s something Coach McCarthy loves about my game is that my versatility showed up on tape. When I talked with him, that’s one thing he emphasized, me learning all the spots. So if CeeDee [Lamb] or MG [Michael Gallup] have got to go somewhere else,” Tolbert explained, “I can play all of the above. I think they’re excited about that, and I’m excited about being able to move around and get matchups with people that probably shouldn’t be guarding me.”
And as Tolbert moves around the field, the idea is to create more of those mismatches for defenders.
“I need to work on more of the slot-type routes,” the Mobile native admitted. “Usually, I’m the downfield deep threat receiver, and so now I need to be able to get consistent on whip routes and change of direction in the middle of the field and the box with the linebackers.”
It’s a steep learning curve for someone who came to football late. And so far, he’s impressing the Cowboys coaching staff with how he’s handling that curve. He asked for- and received- a playbook from quarterback Dak Prescott right after the draft so he could get a head-start on learning his routes in the new offense.
“I think he’s going to do fine,’ head coach Mike McCarthy told media members after the opening day of camp. “He’s young, and frankly, one of the things he made a big point of in our initial conversation was he’s pretty young at the game of football. He didn’t play a lot of football. So that’s exciting, because — these are his words — ‘I don’t know how high my ceiling is, but I think it’s going to be pretty damn high.’ And I was like, ‘Hell yeah, it’s going to be high.'”
McCarthy compared Tolbert to both CeeDee Lamb and recently-departed receiver/special teamer/gadget play guy Cedrick Wilson.
“That’s his body type,” the coach continued, “and I think that illustrates what we’re looking for when you have that type of skillset where you can come in here and have the ability to play inside and outside. I think it’s a real value.”
But Tolbert’s contributions could, like those two examples, also come via special teams. He was one of many Cowboys lining up over the weekend to field punts as Dallas looks to take Lamb out of that high-exposure role.
Tolbert says his baseball background came back to him as he shagged kicks over the weekend, but the hot and bright north Texas sun didn’t make it easy.
“I missed one in the sun,” he told reporters with a smile. “I lost it; it caught me. I wasn’t paying attention to the sun at first because we were to the left. I ran to the right, looked straight up, and all I saw was sun.”
Tolbert knows he wouldn’t have that to worry about inside AT&T Stadium, but he also has the right attitude about improving that skill, saying he was eager to go out and make up for the error next time.
“It’s all good. You make things hard now so it’s easier later.”
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