CFZ My Theory on Jalen Tolbert

[kskboys]

so essentially you are saying we over drafted Tolbert, who should have been taken in the 6th or 7th round....

I'd say more like the 5th, but yeah.

 

[kskboys]

Sometimes rookie take a year or 2. Fans that are already calling him a bust are clueless.

No doubt. He does have good footwork.

 

[fivetwos]

- Yep, Basically that lack of physicality and tentativeness wsa what i was seeing and hearing.

- Sure it was a matter of learning and adjusting to the NFL on a mental sense.
But it was discouraging that he was shying away from traffic contact, and not fighting for the ball on the outside.

- It matters the most to have a measure of competitiveness and courage as a WR.
An alpha dog mentality.

- No matter how mighty mouse small Cole Beasley was, his toughness, dog-bite competitiveness consistently showed up game in/out. every since
he entered the NFL.

Was that sumthin' that showed up (or overlooked?) on Tolbert's college game tape, but didn't translate to the NFL playing field ? .

They just completely botched the WR situation and admitted so.

Considering what they pulled in 2018 you’d think they’d have learned from it.

Comes down to thinking Prescott is better than he is.

Speaking of Beasley, he and Dak worked well together. Why have they not replaced that type of smaller, shifty WR3/slot guy?

 

[CowboyoWales]

I'd say more like the 5th, but yeah.

What did Brugler' Beast say? Some on Dc.com say he could of gone in the 2nd.

 

[baltcowboy]

The few targets Tolbert got was pretty much uncatchable.

Most of his targets came from Rush. Not going to lie I got turned off from Tolbert in preseason when he caught the touchdown but stepped one foot out of bounds. That told me that he was shaky with details. Then the Green Bay overtime fiasco was inexcusable. You cannot line up offsides. Hopefully he works hard with Dak in the offseason so he can improve enough to be our 4th receiver.

 

[cnuball21]

What did Brugler' Beast say? Some on Dc.com say he could have gone in the 2nd.

He was high in him.

“Aside from the occasional focus drop, Tolbert shows impressive catch-point timing and adjustment skills. Although he doesn’t have elite top-end speed, he has fluid footwork and uses slight hesitation in his route breaks so he can mash the gas and create pockets of separation. Overall, Tolbert needs to tighten up a few areas of his game, but he has NFL starting traits with his
ability to track deep or sink and work back to the football.”

Grade: 2nd-3rd Round (No. 59 overall)

 

[cnuball21]

No doubt. He does have good footwork.

Yea, and we finally drafted a WR that had quick feet and that could run.

I’m so sick of seeing us draft dudes that can’t run and aren’t quick and wonder why they can’t separate.

Tolbert has the traits - just needs to keep working and put it all together.

 

[CowboyRoy]

After the 2022 draft, Dallas Cowboys fans fast-forwarded to the future, and Jalen Tolbert was the day 1 starter.

Now, in 2023, they rewind, and it just never came to be.

Most had high hopes for Tolbert going into preseason, so the question is: why?

Why didn't Jalen Tolbert win the starting spot in 2023.

In my opinion, it comes down to experience.

If you know about Tolbert's sports history, he mostly played baseball in his youth. It wasn't until the 11th grade that Tolbert started dabbling in football. During his freshman year, he tallied just 5 receptions for 60 years; his sophomore year he was 27 for 521; during his junior year he caught 64 passes for 1,085 yards, and ended his college career with 84 catches totaling 1,474 yards, according to sports-reference.com.

After the draft, we all heard about how Tolbert was a standout in camp. He probably was. Unless you don't believe the testimony of people attending camp. Then there was preseason. And we saw maybe a little glimpse of what Tolbert could do on a single pass play for 17 yards, I believe it was.

Then, he played a handful of plays versus the Bears, and it never really amounted to much. But if you consider he made a considerable leap every year in college, then it's reasonable to expect he might turn things around after an off-season in 2023.

It's not like he never got open. There were times when he was wide open, sometimes for a touchdown even. But Dak was often looking at something else on the field.. I look for Tolbert to be a bigger part of the offense next season if he can digest the playbook and the speed of the NFL.

McCarthy also told the media he had a hamstring issue, so maybe there was something to that. Or maybe there wasn't. Either way, while it's still too early to judge; it's likely also to risky to sit on your hands and avoid drafting a receiver in the 2023 NFL draft.

Word was he was given too much to learn and didn’t do well grasping it all. A wasted year. Odds are he is cooked.

 

[MyFairLady]

Who was that stupid TE we drafted not that long ago. Fantastic athlete, terrible football player. Always looked unstoppable in training camp. Had no interest in battling on an NFL football field on Sundays. I know that it is enticing to pick the athlete but sometimes you just gotta go with a football player instead. The NFL field on Sunday is no place for the faint of heart.

 

[Rayman70]

Gallup was a stud before getting injured.

meh...here and there maybe. Was he reliable? At times. He had way 2 many games where he vanished even when healthy. I think JT will have every chance 2 win some reps in camp.

 

[MikeT22]

Who was that stupid TE we drafted not that long ago. Fantastic athlete, terrible football player. Always looked unstoppable in training camp. Had no interest in battling on an NFL football field on Sundays. I know that it is enticing to pick the athlete but sometimes you just gotta go with a football player instead. The NFL field on Sunday is no place for the faint of heart.

Gavin Escobar? 2nd rounder and total bust.

What is so weird is the Parcells years and shortly after we were so enamored with TE’s that we drafted Fasano in the 2nd even though we had a young Witten starting. Then 2 years later we traded Fasano for a 4th and immediately drafted M. Bennett in the 2nd.

A few years later we took Escobar in the 2nd.

But at the end of Wittens career when we actually needed a new starter we’ve waited til day 3 to draft TE’s.

Bizarre. Like JJ/Stephen got spooked by missing on the previous guys we just wait til later in the draft now.

 

[CWR]

Maybe a full offseason and continued workout and a year remove could help Gallup off an ACL recovery year.

But just as i am not waiting on Tolbert,..I'm also not for waiting on Gallup either.
I'd love to come away with Two new WRs this offseason to upgrade the roster.

I actually would like to upgrade over Gallup too, as his poor routes, injury history has me on edge as it is.
Plus i really would like to have that over top of defense guy.

I definitely want to add speed at the position.

 

[MyFairLady]

Gavin Escobar? 2nd rounder and total bust.

Actually just remembered it was Rico Gathers. I hated how that guy got so much praise all the time but never showed up on Sundays. It was an insult to the rest of the players that were busting their butts to win.

 

[CowboyoWales]

I definitely want to add speed at the position.

Speed or separation? I get confused and concerned that so many more knowledgeable talking heads mentioned that Hilton was open on a number of occasions.

 

[MikeT22]

Tolbert had as bad a rookie year as you could. But I still have hope he can turn it around. But with nothing else to go on we can’t rely on that being the case.

It’s also possible but a question mark that Gallup will return to his pre-injury play.

So I think we will possibly sign OBJ and then draft one later. I can only imagine we go WR early in the draft if we don’t sign a potential stater in FA.

 

[kskboys]

What did Brugler' Beast say? Some on Dc.com say he could of gone in the 2nd.

Don't even know what that is. I don't get draft info from TV. Way too much of it comes simply from the network trying to get people to listen, making many many draft analyses almost just stupid on TV.

My goto, Lindy's has him as a 4th/5th round pick.

 

[kskboys]

Speed or separation? I get confused and concerned that so many more knowledgeable talking heads mentioned that Hilton was open on a number of occasions.

Separation is much more important than speed. Separation is about agility, burst, footwork, instincts.

 

[kskboys]

meh...here and there maybe. Was he reliable? At times. He had way 2 many games where he vanished even when healthy. I think JT will have every chance 2 win some reps in camp.

Gallup is a quality #2 type WR. At present, he's better than Tolbert, and it's not close. If he recovers from injury, he is easily the answer at the #2 slot.

 

[kskboys]

Yea, and we finally drafted a WR that had quick feet and that could run.

I’m so sick of seeing us draft dudes that can’t run and aren’t quick and wonder why they can’t separate.

Tolbert has the traits - just needs to keep working and put it all together.

He lacks burst, which will most likely keep him from being a #1. One speed WRs can't be #1s.

 

[Plankton]

My theory is that Tolbert mentally wasn't up to the change in level. I think he was completely overwhelmed, and I think he got down on himself to the point that he couldn't progress.

This offseason and camp will be telling for him. They can't expect he is going to be prominent in their plans given his struggles a year ago, so they need to address the position with multiple bodies to be safe, and anything that they get out of him is gravy.