Cowboys selected South Alabama WR Jalen Tolbert with the No. 88 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Tolbert (6'1/194) graduated from South Alabama as a fifth-year senior. He emerged as a redshirt sophomore in 2019 with a 27% yardage share and a 43% TD share. He then produced two seasons of over 1,000 receiving yards and eight TDs with 40% and 48% yardage shares, respectively. He was named first-team All-Sun Belt in 2020 and 2021 and won the 2021 Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year. Tolbert's 36% career yardage share is excellent, even for a five-year player, and puts names like Tyler Lockett in his comp group. However, his late-career dominance is a red flag given that he turned 23 in February. Tolbert had a career average depth of target of 17.9, operating as a pure deep threat. With 4.49 speed and without plus size, he could struggle to reprise that role in the NFL and may ultimately need to develop a more all-around game in the mold of Michael Gallup. It is Gallup, of course, whom Tolbert will now share a receiver corps with. Tolbert's addition could also allow CeeDee Lamb to maintain plenty of snaps in the slot.
Apr 29, 2022, 10:42 PM ET