'Tone-Setter': Dallas Cowboys Rookie Chauncey Golston Wants It All

FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys, when it comes to defensive end, are in constant search of two things: Pass-rushers and position flex.

And along comes Chauncey Golston.

"You want to be a Swiss Army Knife,'' said the third-round rookie from Iowa. "So, you want to be able wherever there's opportunity."

Oh, there's an opportunity - especially when Cowboys personnel boss Will McClay labels you a "tone-setter.''

Of course, McClay is talking about what Golston accomplished in college, where was a versatile attacker. Golston, at 6-4 and 270, even won the school's "Team Hustle Award'' in two different seasons.

The comparisons to the now retired Cowboys D-line leader Tyrone Crawford seems appropriate.

“The more you watched the guy, the more you loved the way that he plays the game,'' McClay said. "How he plays the game was the biggest key for us in looking at how he fit what we want.”

But "positional flex'' is only a concept until the actual games begin. And during Dallas' rookie minicamp here inside The Star over the weekend, he is a defensive end.

"I'll be focusing on end right now," Golston said. "That's all we've gotten to so far. But overall just trying to get better at learning the defense and being a better first-step player."

Chauncey Golston said he would be "comfortable on either side" of the defensive line. And he also noted his willingness to play inside - all, again, very Crawford-like.

"That's how I got on the field my first time in Iowa," Golston said. "I've always been trying to get on the field no matter what or where. So, if I'm on the inside, I'm just trying to make a play. At the end of the day, it's football."

Golston has a crowd he needs to cut through on his to playing time; there are a lot of guys between him and DeMarcus Lawrence. Cowboys. There is also a huge learning curve to being versatile enough to carve multiple paths. And then there is simply surviving the intimidating jump to The Big Show.

"This facility is amazing,'' Golston said after his tour of The Star. "We had a nice facility at Iowa, but I walked in the building and I was like, 'Okay. This is top notch right here.' But I'm just trying not to get too caught up in the glitz and glamor of how nice it is and come to work here everyday. At the end of the day, the building is nice, but everybody is expecting a nice product on the field. So, that's what we got to get down to."

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