CFZ The mystery of Jalen Tolbert

OmerV

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Dude was not worthy of a 3rd round pick. He went to South Alabama and was never going to contribute right away. Hopefully he shows something by year 3.
What does going to South Alabama have to do with it? Sure bigger competition is better, but it's not unheard of for players from lesser conferences to do well. Cooper Kupp, for example, played at Eastern Washington, and was a 3rd round pick, and he contributed right away. Michael Gallup contributed right away as a 3rd round pick from Colorado State.

And it's not as if anyone expected him to step on the field and be star. Just 2-3 catches a game would have been helpful while Gallup and Washington were out.
 
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OmerV

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Lol, looking at the history of slow development at the position, if you really expected an impact from a player coming out of a spread offense in the sun belt league then that’s on you! He had 146 receptions for 2559 yards at a 17.5 ave his last two seasons in college. If he had half that production in a major conference he would have been a top 5 pick. And yet he was sitting in the middle of the 3rd. He was a developmental WR picked on upside who was going to spend his first season trying to learn how to run routes. You draft for 4 years, not one!
I'm not talking about him being a big time player straight out of college. The only impact I expected was to step in and catch a few passes while Gallup and Washington were out. 1-3 catches a game to give us a #3 receiver. That's not remotely an unreasonable expectation for a 3rd round pick
 

doomsday9084

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Tristan Hill. People were calling him a bust early and they were right. Same with Taco.

Its OK to call a guy a bust well into his first year. A large majority of the time, if you are going to be a good player eventually you will have shown something by now. Every once in a while a guy won't do anything early on and go on to have a solid career but that's not the norm.

The Cowboys draft this past year was fantastic. Drafting is like shooting 3's in basketball. If you hit half of them you are doing great. Tolbert was just one of the misses.
 

quickccc

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My only point is give guys time to develop, a whole crop of 3rd rounders isn’t going to be busts,

2 catches and several game day inactive doesn't sound like development to me.
How can you contribute and develop and gain game experience if you are made inactive every week ?

- What does not further help matters is the impression per the Cowboys draft value on draft was the impression that Tolbert was more NFL ready
for his position.

- That was another reason he actually had a 2nd round grade on Tolbert. And probably why he was expected to contribute more on the field his rookie year,
instead of being game day inactive virtually every game.

- And with the addition vet Ty Hilton and the fact that Tolbert also brings no special teams value, likely gonna keep Tolbert's appearance and development
under wraps this rookie year.
 

quickccc

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He's the new Devin Street.

Devin Street was not as regarded and higher draft graded than what the Cowboys had for Jalen Tolbert.
That's why even as a rookie, more was expected right off from Tolbert.
He wasn't seen as a late round WR prospect - Street,..Cedrick Wilson, ..Simi Fehoko,..etc.
 

lukin2006

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Maybe he’s just a bust…

Maybe he will make a big jump in year 2…
 

exciter

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I'm not talking about him being a big time player straight out of college. The only impact I expected was to step in and catch a few passes while Gallup and Washington were out. 1-3 catches a game to give us a #3 receiver. That's not remotely an unreasonable expectation for a 3rd round pick
Velus Jones was taken about 10 pick earlier, he has 3 rec for 24 yards. Danny Gray was taken about 10 after, he has 1 for 10. This isn’t unusual or unexpected for a kid coming from a spread offense in the sun belt who had never seen anything resembling a pro style route. He was picked as a developmental WR with tremendous upside with hopes he would start making an impact in his 2nd year. That was always their plan, otherwise they would have only had him focus on 1 position, not all 3!
 

cnuball21

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Velus Jones was taken about 10 pick earlier, he has 3 rec for 24 yards. Danny Gray was taken about 10 after, he has 1 for 10. This isn’t unusual or unexpected for a kid coming from a spread offense in the sun belt who had never seen anything resembling a pro style route. He was picked as a developmental WR with tremendous upside with hopes he would start making an impact in his 2nd year. That was always their plan, otherwise they would have only had him focus on 1 position, not all 3!

Nope.

For some reason fans think rookies are busts unless they contribute year 1.
 

tyke1doe

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Give him time. By next year if he's not contributing even moderately then it's time to worry.
 

OmerV

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Velus Jones was taken about 10 pick earlier, he has 3 rec for 24 yards. Danny Gray was taken about 10 after, he has 1 for 10. This isn’t unusual or unexpected for a kid coming from a spread offense in the sun belt who had never seen anything resembling a pro style route. He was picked as a developmental WR with tremendous upside with hopes he would start making an impact in his 2nd year. That was always their plan, otherwise they would have only had him focus on 1 position, not all 3!
If you can run a 10 yard curl in a spread offense you can in a pro offense. I'm not saying there aren't adjustments, but again, I'm not talking about taking a major role. A 3rd round receiver should be able to handle more than 2 receptions for 12 yards in 13 games.

I would understand and accept it more if the team started the season with 3 WRs with some solid experience, and he was left as a 4-5 WR that didn't need to play, but they started the season with only 1 WR that had ever been a starter, and 1 that had been a 5th WR or practice squad player for 5 years. No other active receiver had a single NFL reception. Not one.
 

817Gill

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2 catches and several game day inactive doesn't sound like development to me.
How can you contribute and develop and gain game experience if you are made inactive every week ?

- What does not further help matters is the impression per the Cowboys draft value on draft was the impression that Tolbert was more NFL ready
for his position.

- That was another reason he actually had a 2nd round grade on Tolbert. And probably why he was expected to contribute more on the field his rookie year,
instead of being game day inactive virtually every game.

- And with the addition vet Ty Hilton and the fact that Tolbert also brings no special teams value, likely gonna keep Tolbert's appearance and development
under wraps this rookie year.
Nothing anyone can say makes him a bust after one year brotha. There are plenty of players who did nothing their rookie years and went on to produce at a high level.

I’m not even sure what you’re arguing. The facts are that you don’t give up on a guy in year one regardless of how little he’s shown. He could very well be a bust, but it’s too early to say. Give the kid another offseason and preseason and let’s see where he is.

Also, you can develop in practice man you don’t have to play games solely to develop. How do you think guys down roster develop lol?
 

OmerV

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Nope.

For some reason fans think rookies are busts unless they contribute year 1.
That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm not calling him a bust, but I think concern is warranted. When you are a 3rd round pick and the #2 receiver is a career 5th teamer/practice squad guy and nobody else after that has ever caught even 1 NFL pass before, thinking he might be able to help out in at least a small way (1-2 catches a game) isn't unreasonable.
 

exciter

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If you can run a 10 yard curl in a spread offense you can in a pro offense. I'm not saying there aren't adjustments, but again, I'm not talking about taking a major role. A 3rd round receiver should be able to handle more than 2 receptions for 12 yards in 13 games.

I would understand and accept it more if the team started the season with 3 WRs with some solid experience, and he was left as a 4-5 WR that didn't need to play, but they started the season with only 1 WR that had ever been a starter, and 1 that had been a 5th WR or practice squad player for 5 years. No other active receiver had a single NFL reception. Not one.
Yes, if they had him learn one WR position like they did with Lamb and Gallup as Rookies then he should have made more of an impact. If nothing else, with 4.48 speed at almost 6’2” he could have been a nice decoy. When they came out at the end of camp and said they had him begin learning all “3 positions”… that says to me that they always considered him a developmental Wr for this season and stuck to that plan despite injuries!
 

cnuball21

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That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm not calling him a bust, but I think concern is warranted. When you are a 3rd round pick and the #2 receiver is a career 5th teamer/practice squad guy and nobody else after that has ever caught even 1 NFL pass before, thinking he might be able to help out in at least a small way (1-2 catches a game) isn't unreasonable.

Sure, it’s fine to be concerned but no reason to think the kid is a bust yet.

If he’s still riding the bench after a full offseason to get stronger and better acclimated to the speed of the NFL, then yea, I’ll be far more concerned.
 

quickccc

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Nothing anyone can say makes him a bust after one year brotha. There are plenty of players who did nothing their rookie years and went on to produce at a high level.

I’m not even sure what you’re arguing. The facts are that you don’t give up on a guy in year one regardless of how little he’s shown. He could very well be a bust, but it’s too early to say. Give the kid another offseason and preseason and let’s see where he is.

Also, you can develop in practice man you don’t have to play games solely to develop. How do you think guys down roster develop lol?

- This particular rookie year will be a bust for Tolbert - but that does not mean automatically he will be a bust for his career.
Like i said, he could dramatically improve and raise his game starting offseason to next summer's end.
But i'm not one for chancing bypassing a WR in the draft, for the sake of hoping Tolbert turns the corner.

- I'm just again pointing out that per his draft value, a lot more was expected of him as a contributor. ..not starter, but contributor, a portion.

- And " practice " does not near account for actual game day experience. You start out with practice - but live game day action is what you're gonna be counted on.
That is gonna be the bulk and most key to your development.

When winning or losing stakes are on.. ..., when the lights are on you,, the stomach butterflies are reeling, .t.what you do, or don't do accounts for your team's success ..or failure.
There's much more responsibility and pressure to perform on the field.

And we've experienced plenty of guys that have came thru here that just lit it up in Practice,..
but once the lights of actual game day - even preseason games came on,..they just dried up and blew away elsewhere.
Coaches want to see if you're a gamer against competition. ..
 

Mr_437

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I didn't like the draft pick, but I'm not ready to give up on anybody in this draft class.
 

KJJ

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Some blame Tolbert missing some time in training camp with an injury for why he’s made no impact this season. That’s the excuse Stephen Jones used early in the season during a radio interview. Tolbert returned in plenty of time to play in preseason and did nothing. He had at least one or two drops. Early reports in training camp were positive with some in the Dallas media thinking he would be one of our starters. We all thought he would get plenty of opportunity with the loss of Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson in free agency, along with losing James Washington to injury early in training camp. Not to mention Michael Gallup being out the first few games of the season. So far Tolbert has been a huge bust. He was a third round pick in what was a strong WR class. He was a healthy scratch during a few games this season. With only four games left it doesn’t appear he’s going to be doing anything this season. He’s been such a disappointment it makes you wonder if he’ll even make the team next season.
 
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xwalker

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When Jalen Tolbert was drafted in the third round last spring, I didn’t expect 60 catches for 800 yds…but I also expected better than 2 receptions for 12 yards, and only being active for 8 of 13 games. Then at a critical moment in the packers loss, his senseless lining up offsides is still unbelievable…even for a rookie.

So what’s up with Tolbert? I know he’s green, but Michael Gallup was a 3rd round pick in 2018 and despite a learning curve, he still caught 33 passes for 507 yds and 2 TDs. Tolbert is barely getting on the field, much less catching passes.

This isn’t a 7th round long shot. Tolbert was drafted to play. That’s what the FO said the day he was drafted. In a year where the Cowboys haven’t been loaded at WR, Tolbert certainly had an opportunity.

So what gives? Any insight on the mystery of Jalen Tolbert?
They use him similar to past years with Noah Brown.

Tolbert has made a few key blocks on big run plays.

He has done more than Jabril Cox but CZ loves Cox and hates Tolbert...
 
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