Rookie Jalen Tolbert: 'Awesome' Reviews from Cowboys Coaches
FRISCO - "He's awesome.''
It's an overused word; surely Jalen Tolbert cannot already be an "awesome'' wide receiver, because then what word would we use to describe Michael Irvin or Jerry Rice or Randy Moss?
This, however, is a Dallas Cowboys wide receiver room largely built on hope. Hope of every guy essentially moving up one notch on the totem pole. Hope that chemistry can be had quickly. Hope that "new'' is as good as "old.''
The Cowboys presently think rookie Jalen Tolbert is on that track.
"He's awesome," said Kellen Moore, the Cowboys offensive coordinator, when asked to provide a scouting report on the third-round rookie Tolbert. "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."
Tolbert, a productive player from South Alabama who only really picked up football during high school, was so highly thought of by Moore and the Cowboys that they nearly made him their second-round pick. So the team believes it got great value with its selection, which allowed the defense to get a boost with the second-round selection of Ole Miss defensive end Sam Williams.
And just as, in a perfect world, Williams would replace the departed Randy Gregory, Tolbert - with Amari Cooper gone and with Michael Gallup still rehabbing a torn ACL injury that we believe will cause him to come up short when it comes to playing Week 1 - would become the sidekick to CeeDee Lamb.
Tolbert got a leg up on the race for snaps when he got a phone call before the draft from Dallas QB Dak Prescott. The two of them "vibed,'' as Tolbert put it, and once he was selected by the Cowboys, Dak reached out again.
“Dak sent me the playbook early,'' said Tolbert, "so I could get a head start on the plays.”
(It turns out that the wily Prescott communicated before the draft with eight or nine wideout prospects he knew Dallas was interested in. Still ... good story.)
Tolbert, 6-3, 190, believes his experience as a baseball player will help him in everything from tracking the ball to showing off his versatility.
"We'll try to get him to learn as many spots as possible,' Moore said, while also conceding there are "starting points'' for rookies. "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."
And if it works in a way that allows Dallas to not miss Amari Cooper? Awesome.
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