Tag: Jalen Brooks

Cowboys fortunate how their WR situation fell into place

The Cowboys were banking on multiple WRs to progress in 2024 and seem to have succeeded. | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys entered training camp with a clear and present need at the receiver position. Yes, they had one of the best WRs on the planet in CeeDee Lamb, but behind him was a grab bag of unknowns and mysteries.

The veteran of the bunch, Brandin Cooks, turns 31 in September and is coming off his worst season in five years. Was he still the guy or was he on decline? The developmental players, Jalen Tolbert and Jalen Brooks, have just 30 career NFL receptions between them and had given little indication last year they were ready to be relied on for a top-three role in 2024. And the rookie draft pick, Ryan Flournoy, was a project player from a small school who was in many ways a longshot to ever play in the NFL, let alone earn a roster spot as a rookie right out of camp.

The Cowboys weren’t just hoping their WR room would step up and play better than they did last season, they were banking on it. The issue at WR became even more apparent after CeeDee Lamb sat out camp amidst a contract dispute.

But it seems to have all worked out.

Not only did Lamb just sign an extension and make his way back into the fold, but the players the Cowboys were banking on to improve successfully paid out as well.

Cooks looks like his down season last year was more about his usage than slippage. Tolbert looks like he has a firm grasp of the WR3 position and may even be the heir apparent for Cooks as Dallas’ No. 2. Brooks looks like he can step in and play a variety of roles, namely filling the hole left by Michael Gallup at the X. Even the rookie Flournoy showed he’s more than just a project player; he’s someone who could be special.

Training camp has to be seen as widely successful for the Cowboys WR position. Hitting on one projection is impressive enough but the Cowboys appeared to hit on multiple projections. This feat can’t be understated.

No one disputes the offense runs through Lamb. It’s probably why the Cowboys gambled at all the other WR positions. Seeing these young prospects improve is important for 2024 and also in seasons beyond.

With Lamb as the second highest paid WR in the NFL, it’s important for the Cowboys to keep costs low around him. Populating the WR depth chart with players on rookie deals is a must going forward. Exceptions can be made for modestly priced veterans, but generally speaking, the strategy is leaning on rookie contracts to keep positional spending affordable.

The entire WR depth chart has explicably fallen into place perfectly for the Cowboys, positioning the team for success in 2024 and beyond.

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‘Brick by brick’: Cowboys WR Jalen Brooks building foundation for ’24 roster spot

From @ToddBrock24f7: The second-year WR has performed well in camp and would seem to be one of the team’s top 6 at the position, but he’s not content to coast.

Jalen Brooks may be building something special.

By all accounts, the second-year wide receiver has been a strong performer for the Cowboys during training camp. Most major projections have the seventh-round draft pick from last year making the 53-man roster, no small feat considering the expanse of talent in the team’s WR room this summer.

Brooks admits that he didn’t have a perfect camp, but the 24-year-old says he’s focused on simply improving with every new opportunity.

“It’s been solid,” Brooks said of his camp before leaving Oxnard with the team. “It hasn’t been what I wanted it to [be], but … I’m big on ‘brick-by-brick.’ Just keep on stacking each and every day, trying to get better each and every day. I definitely left some plays out there this camp, but as long as I’m able to see what I need to learn from and everything, and come back and be better than what I was yesterday, then I’m okay with that.”

His work in practice has certainly helped with the construction of that foundation. Lining up against 2022’s league interceptions leader- day after day, rep after rep, drill after drill- will do that.

Brooks has found himself going one-on-one with All-Pro cornerback Trevon Diggs… and holding his own more often than not. One series from Wednesday’s final padded practice saw Diggs jawing loudly at Brooks mid-route, only to later have the South Carolina product get revenge by beating Diggs for a touchdown catch that ended with Brooks spinning the ball at the two-time Pro Bowler’s feet.

“It felt good, but that’s why we’re out here: just to compete,” Brooks said of the back-and-forth with Diggs. “We’ll be talking trash all the time and everything, so I think it’s healthy competition, but obviously, it feels good to end up on top, for sure.”

Brooks is getting those regular reps versus the Cowboys’ CB1 largely because superstar receiver CeeDee Lamb has been absent for all of camp. And with Brandin Cooks skipping out on the final two Oxnard practices for personal reasons, it’s put Brooks against DBs that are often far better than the ones he might draw during a real game, as the third or fourth option in the Dallas passing attack.

Even against top-tier competition, he’s been delivering.

Brooks says it speaks to the overall strength of the receiving corps the team has assembled.

“The depth that we have, being able to not miss a beat. It’s always a next-guy-up type of thing, and just showing that even if somebody’s not here, we’re able to step up and compete and fill those roles.”

That will only pay dividends when Lamb and Cooks are back in the lineup, and Brooks- who has all of six career catches for 64 yards- knows it.

“It just builds confidence,” he said. “Going into any game during the season, when you’re going against the best and you’re able to compete against the best, I think that talks for itself. I’m blessed that I have him as a teammate and I’m able to go against him.”

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Brooks isn’t guaranteed a roster spot, though, even if he’s shown out well in practices. He hasn’t gotten a ton of looks in the team’s two preseason games, but that could be because the Cowboys coaches already have a good idea of what they have in him.

Case in point: Brooks got just one target in last weekend’s win in Vegas.

His snap count in this Saturday’s game against the Chargers may provide a clue. Brooks would certainly seem- on paper- to be one of the Cowboys’ top six choices at the position. If Brooks is used again only sparingly in the preseason finale, it may be because the team is wrestling harder with a decision about Racey McMath or Kelvin Harmon or Jalen Cropper.

Maybe Brooks has already stacked enough bricks by now to have built himself a solid roster spot.

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WATCH: Rush connects with Brooks on bomb to open Cowboys’ preseason

The veteran backup helps the cause of the second-year wideout with a big play to start the game off.

The preseason has finally arrived and with it, Dallas Cowboys fans can finally move on from a tumultuous offseason. The Cowboys started off on defense in LA, but they stymied the Rams once they got into scoring position and held them to three points.

Cooper Rush got the start at quarterback with many starters sitting out the exhibition game, par for the course for Mike McCarthy’s guys. It didn’t take long for Rush to declare his competency, either. After back-to-back Rico Dowdle rushes gave an immediate new set of downs, Rush went to work and found second-year receiver Jalen Brooks on a deep throw.

Brooks is competing to be WR3 behind CeeDee Lamb (when he reports) and Brandin Cooks and has been electric thus far in training camp. Getting big plays in actual action will go a long way towards those goals.

‘The Jalens’ leading WR race early in Cowboys camp

Jalen Tolbert, Jalen Brooks and Jalen Moreno-Cropper are separating from the pack in Cowboys camp. | From @ReidDHanson

Jalen Tolbert, Jalen Brooks and Jalen Moreno-Cropper have been standout performers early in Cowboys camp. It’s clear the three young receivers have eagerly taken on the challenge laid before them this summer. They’ve stepped up into the void Dallas had at the WR position and showed concerns are best placed elsewhere on the roster.

There have been tales of Tolbert’s maturation at the position for months. But with only 22 receptions for 268 yards of production on the record, many fans have taken on a “I’ll believe it when I see it” attitude to the former third-round pick.

Tolbert’s skillset and draft status make him the early favorite to claim the coveted WR3 role in 2024. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound product of South Alabama has deep-ball speed and juice to be a run after the catch weapon. After a year of the yips as a rookie, Tolbert came on strong in his second year, effectively splitting snaps with Michael Gallup late in the season.

Joining Tolbert in the highlight reels has been Brooks, the Cowboys seventh-round pick from 2023. Brooks has been every bit as impressive as Tolbert without overlapping in too many ways. If Tolbert has the juice, it’s Brooks who has the attitude.

At 6-foot-1, 201 pounds, the South Carolina product is a fearless player who plays bigger than his size. After already establishing himself as a solid special teams contributor in his rookie season, Brooks looks eager to snag a bigger role on offense in Year 2.

Brooks has been quick off the snap and strong in his breaks. His ability to run block and win slant routes stands out among his peers and could win a steady role on the Cowboys in 2024.

Rounding out this Jalen-fest is second year man Moreno-Cropper. A training camp standout in 2023, Moreno-Cropper is hoping to build on his rookie effort and turn it into a permanent spot on the active roster.

At just 6-foot, 172-pounds, Moreno-Cropper is the smallest of the Jalens but by no means should be taken for granted in this battle. He’s been a model of stability at WR and is fully in the mix for a top-six role on the depth chart.

The Cowboys are actively looking for ways to give him work and even using him on punt return duties alongside David Durden, KaVontae Turpin and Deuce Vaughn.

For full transparency, Mike Zimmer and his secondary are deserving of the most praise in these unpadded portions of camp. They’ve rolled out coverage looks that have largely been foreign throughout the previous Dan Quinn era.

But the WR battlers deserves its recognition as well. No one knew exactly what to expect from this unproven bunch of pass-catchers and it was prompting some concern of late. Luckily for everyone, the Jalens are on the case, working together to form a cohesive and complementary trio at the WR position.

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Young Cowboys receivers benefitting in Lamb’s absence

Lamb has been missing during OTAs and minicamp, giving an opportunity to the depth players to prove they are deserving of a bigger role. | From @BenGrimaldi

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb hasn’t attended any team workouts this offseason, and that absence extended to this week’s mandatory minicamp as he seeks a contract extension.

While it’s hard to find the positives when a player is voluntarily staying away from the team, young Cowboys receivers are making the most of the extra opportunities with Lamb missing. WRs Jalen Tolbert, Jalen Brooks, as well as rookie Ryan Flournoy, have each made positive impressions over the course of OTAs and minicamp.

With veteran WR Michael Gallup gone, the passing game has a need for a third option and these three receivers are all making a push to take on a larger role. The Cowboys’ quest to find their guy is made easier with Lamb not around. The team knows what they have in Lamb and fellow veteran Brandin Cooks, so they’re taking advantage of Lamb’s absence by giving the younger WRs more snaps. It can only help a receiver group that lacks experience behind the starting tandem.

Brooks is a second-year WR who appears to have made a nice jump in his first full offseason with the team. The young WR stood out as one of better the players from OTAs last week.

The Cowboys liked Brooks enough to keep him on the roster as a seventh-round pick last year. He played sparingly as a WR as a rookie, finding his way into seven games catching six passes for 64 yards. However, Brooks did find a role on special teams where played 45% of the special teams snaps. If he keeps turning heads, Brooks will be making more of an impact on offense during the 2024 campaign.

Tolbert’s a third-year WR, and a third-round pick, who hasn’t lived up to expectations in his first two seasons. That could be changing this year; Tolbert has talked about his renewed confidence and by working out with Cooks this offseason it looks like he’s ready to take the next step. In minicamp, Tolbert backed up his positive outlook by making plays.

The Cowboys have been waiting for Tolbert to assert himself into a viable threat in passing game, and hopefully he can build on a strong minicamp.

Flournoy also has some positive buzz coming out of the last few weeks of workouts. The rookie has some impressive traits that led to his selection in the sixth-round of last April’s draft despite playing for a small school in college, and Flournoy’s backing up his athleticism with his play.

That’s a great sign for a player who many thought needed to work on refining his game. If Flournoy is ahead of the curve, he could be a steal for the Cowboys.

The offense is obviously better with Lamb in the lineup, and with Minnesota Vikings WR Justin Jefferson’s new deal, Dallas now has a baseline to get their No. 1 WR extended and back working out with the team. But without Lamb around, the Cowboys have been busy giving the inexperienced WRs extra work, and the results are promising. Brooks, Flournoy, and Tolbert are all off to good starts this offseason, something the team must hope continues in training camp and into the regular season.

Even when Lamb returns the Cowboys are going to need a young WR or two to step up, and the early returns have shown they’ll be in capable hands.

You can chat with or follow Ben on twitter @BenGrimaldi

Here’s how the Cowboys 10 WRs impact the 2024 salary cap

A breakdown of the Cowboys wide receiver room’s contracts and impact on the salary cap as the club enters the team building phase. | From @ArmyChiefW3

The Cowboys have 10 wide receivers under contract for 2024 and the new league year hasn’t even begun. To an outsider looking in, it may feel like Dallas does not have much room to add to this position group. A deep dive into contract specifics muddies the waters and calls into question the total amount of money that goes to the group.

Wideout CeeDee Lamb is the unquestioned leader of this group and figures to command a large payday. Behind him, sits a collection of varying degrees of pedigree, skill and experience.  Opportunity lurks just around the corner but trust must be earned by both the coaching staff and the quarterback as well, as evidenced by the volume directed at Lamb.

After checking out both the quarterback room and the running backs, here’s a look at the financial breakdown of all of the wideouts on the Cowboys 2024 roster in February.

Where does the Cowboys’ draft class stand ahead of cutdown day?

Questions surrounded the 2023 class yet as cutdown day approaches things look promising for each member’s chances. From @ArmyChiefW3

It has been said one must wait three years in order to properly gauge how well a team’s draft class fared. Growth is part of the process, but immediate impact by special players reinvigorates fanbases and quickly changes the season’s outlook. Take the rookie seasons of QB Dak Prescott and RB Ezekiel Elliott for obvious examples.

While the three-year mark is a nice guideline, it is far from a rule and honestly, a lot less fun. Gauging a player with draft grades sets a baseline of expectations which are fun to track throughout a player’s career.

While immediate impact is always desired, having the patience to trust the developmental program may be the most beneficial support a young player can have. So where do the players from the Cowboys 2023 draft class currently stand before rosters are trimmed to 53?

Building blocks among 3 things to watch for in Cowboys-Seahawks

What can fans look for the Cowboys to expand on in Game 2 of the preseason? | From @cdpiglet

Winning and losing take on different meanings in the preseason as compared to the regular season. In the regular season, the point total is what determines a successful outing, but exhibition-game success is measured differently. The Dallas Cowboys “lost” to the Jacksonville Jaguars in their first preseason game of 2023, but in reality, Dallas left that game feeling like they won overall.

The Cowboys’ second-team defense handled the Jaguars’ first-team offense with a forced turnover and a three-and-out, and had a bunch of guys on the bubble show up and look like potential contributors. Most importantly, they left the game with no serious injury concerns.

Now the team turns to a road game against the Seattle Seahawks and looks to continue to improve on the work they have done all training camp, but especially what they saw in real game reps last week. Here are some things fans should keep an eye on in this game that could help tell the story about the 53-man rosters and the success of the team going forward.

‘Incredible journey’: Cowboys have Giants QB Daniel Jones to thank for new WR Jalen Brooks

From @ToddBrock24f7: It took 3 schools, summer training with the Giants QB, and a self-imposed break from football for Brooks to find his way to the Cowboys.

He wasn’t quite Mr. Irrelevant, but he wasn’t too far off.

Just don’t expect anyone who knows Jalen Brooks to agree with that.

The South Carolina wide receiver was the 244th overall pick (out of 259) in this weekend draft, the final selection made by the Cowboys in this year’s draft class.

But the truth is, it’s amazing he got the call at all.

“It’s bright now,” the 22-year-old said of his future in an introductory conference call with Cowboys media after being drafted. “But it definitely had a lot of dark days.”

Brooks started his college career at Wingate University in North Carolina, a tiny private school with just 2,600 students. Over 12 game appearances as a freshman, he caught just 17 balls, but averaged a promising 17.5 yards per reception.

His sophomore year, he earned All-South Atlantic Conference honors in a 10-2 season. This time, he averaged 21.5 yards per catch. But in the team’s RPO offense, the Bulldogs receivers were rarely more than decoys, and he realized his volume simply wouldn’t be increasing anytime soon.

“I knew in order to get to that next level, I needed the ball more,” he said of the experience.

Brooks transferred to Tarleton State in Texas… but then COVID-19 happened. He says he spent an “extremely hard” summer commuting back and forth from Stephensville, Texas to his home in Charlotte- a 14- to 16-hour drive- as he waited for the world to return to normal.

It was during that summer of displacement that he started working out with QB Country, a position-specific training and development company whose clients include Mac Jones, Gardner Minshew, Sam Howell, Cowboys backup Cooper Rush, and others.

QBC’s Anthony Boone, a former Duke quarterback, had based himself in Charlotte specifically to work with Giants passer and fellow Blue Devils alum Daniel Jones. With North Carolina stay-at-home orders limiting groups to under 10 people, Brooks became one of the receivers who would join Jones and Boone at local parks around the area for socially-distanced throwing sessions.

Brooks says things then started to click for him in a different way.

“He pretty much introduced me to a pro-style offense,” Brooks said of Jones. “I was just out there, just me and a whole bunch of NFL veterans as well that were out there. We just all connected and were just grinding through that whole process.”

When schools returned to face-to-face, Brooks says Jones lobbied for him to transfer to Duke, but South Carolina had already made him an offer with new coach Shane Beamer at the helm.

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Some transfer-related red tape regarding his eligibility held Brooks out of all but the Gamecocks’ final six games of the 2020 season. He started the first six games of his senior season in 2021, but then, citing “personal reasons,” Brooks left the team and missed the final seven contests.

He returned as a super senior- and a changed man- in 2022.

“Things come up that are more important than football,” Brooks told The State about his absence. “You’ve always got to handle your business. Adversity came my way, but I didn’t stop grinding. I kept on working. I came back stronger and faster. I missed for personal reasons and I’m going to continue to keep it that way, [but] it was also a blessing in disguise. I got to create a new identity outside of football. I came back and graduated. I started my master’s. I’m very excited.”

That excitement came through on the field, as the rejuvenated Brooks started all 12 games and ranked second on the team in both receptions and receiving yards. He was recognized with the Overcoming Adversity Award at the team’s senior banquet and began preparing for a possible next step to the pro level.

“Brooks is a physical route runner who uses his strength and body position to gain late separation,” wrote ESPN. “He has long arms, high-points the ball, and excels at winning contested balls. Brooks is a strong runner after the catch and will break some tackles.”

Things were looking up, enough for Brooks to even earn an invite to the NFL scouting combine.

It went poorly.

Although he hit the 91st percentile in the broad jump, Brooks turned in the slowest 40 time of any receiver and failed to impress in any other test or stand out in any physical category apart from arm length.

Still, there was something about him. And a Cowboys scout had noticed.

“The scout that goes in the area,” Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay explained in the team’s Day 3 press conference. “When we have these meetings, they go through and they have a feeling about the player: you talk about him in the room, you talk about the traits they have and how they fit.”

But Brooks had no idea the Cowboys had ever seen him outside of one brief conversation at the College Gridiron Showcase, an all-star game in Fort Worth.

So when he got the call from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, Brooks described it as “a super surreal moment.” Now he’ll be in the room with CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup, and Brandin Cooks as he looks to overcome the odds once again.

Brooks is admittedly a largely unknown commodity. That can be said of any seventh-round draft pick. But the Cowboys have seen enough to warrant a closer look. And his former coaches at South Carolina are excited for the Dallas staff to discover what they’ve already known, as evidenced by the congratulatory video the program put out on social media, one in which Gamecocks wide receivers coach Justin Stepp is overcome with emotion.

“Incredible journey to get to where he is,” McClay told media members Saturday after Brooks’s selection had been made official. “And to get here, you know that achieving part is in him and you know there’s more upside to him.”

Brooks couldn’t agree more.

“I’m blessed to be in this position right now,” he says. “But the job is just now getting started. It’s nowhere close to being finished.”

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Cowboys select South Carolina WR Jalen Brooks with No. 244 pick

The Cowboys ended their 2023 draft with a boost for Dak Prescott, drafting South Carolina wide receiver Jalen Brooks. | From @cdburnett7

The Cowboys capped off their 2023 draft haul with South Carolina wide receiver Jalen Brooks in the seventh round. The former Gamecock delivered his best season in 2022 with 33 catches and 504 yards.

While he had a lower usage rate. Brooks’ stock comes with his catch radius. After starting his career at DII Wingate, he transferred to South Carolina and made a grab in his second season that put him on the radar.

Dallas made a conscious effort to improve at receiver by trading for Brandin Cooks and having Michael Gallup a year removed from his torn ACL should bode well for the group. As for Brooks, he fits into the picture as a strong receiver that can assist Gallup and CeeDee Lamb on the outside.