Disappointing Cowboys Playmaker Predicted for ‘Biggest Breakout’

It’s difficult, with days left before the start of training camp in California and three Cowboys stars in need of contract extensions, to find a lot to be happy about in Dallas. But if the Cowboys could emerge from the next six weeks with a clearer idea of how their wide receiver room is shaping up, well that would be a step in the right direction, especially if CeeDee Lamb gets a new deal in the process.

If we assume Lamb sticks around—and he is the most likely to get paid, more even than quarterback Dak Prescott and edge rusher Micah Parsons—the Cowboys’ next challenge is to identify and bring along a quality No. 3 receiver behind Lamb and Brandin Cooks, especially with Cooks hitting free agency next offseason.

The Cowboys not only need a No. 3 for this year, they need a guy who plays well enough to become a No. 2 next year. That’s why there is plenty of hope that a July 20 prediction from Bleacher Report, which has third-year receiver Jalen Tolbert tabbed as the Cowboys’ “breakout” player for 2024, turns out to be correct.

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Cowboys Will Have Competition for No. 3 Role

Writing in an article titled, “Predicting Every NFL Team’s Biggest Breakout of the 2024 NFL Season,” analyst Matt Holder notes that Tolbert has only had limited opportunities to this point, but with the release of Michael Gallup, who had been expected to be the team’s No. 3 receiver but struggled last year, the chance is there for Tolbert.

“While Tolbert hasn’t been very productive so far with just 24 catches and 280 yards during his first two seasons, he should be in line for a bigger role this fall. The Cowboys let Michael Gallup and Tony Pollard go in the offseason and those two combined for 124 targets in 2023.

“Someone within Dallas’ receiving corps is destined to get a bigger role this season. It might as well be the former third-round pick.”

There will be competition for the role, though. Primarily, the Cowboys figure to give Jalen Brooks, a seventh-round pick last season, a look as the No. 3 man, and undersize return man KaVontae Turpin will get a chance, too.

The Cowboys have high hopes for rookie Ryan Flournoy, too, who was picked in the sixth round, but he might not be ready for a bigger role yet.

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Jalen Tolbert Hoping to Rebuild Confidence

Tolbert has been active working this offseason with Prescott, in an effort to build a better rapport with the QB but also just to help rebuild his own confidence, which has wavered in his time in the NFL. He’s had a disappointing stint thus far.

Tolbert vowed back in the spring to get back to basics, as when he was a clear No. 1 back in his collegiate days, with an astounding 82 catches for 1,474 yards and 8 touchdowns in his senior season. He had also impressed personnel folks at the Senior Bowl that winter.

“My rookie year, I think I had lost every bit, almost all of my confidence,’’ Tolbert said in a locker room interview in May 2024. “I was thinking way more than I should instead of just going out there and having fun, and knowing that I belong here, that I’m valuable at this level.

“That’s something I had to build back up.’’

Cooks, for one, has been impressed.

“The way that he’s able to talk about a route or the way he’s able to tell the quarterback the way that he sees things, he’s not shy anymore,” Cooks told the media in May. “He’s able to go up to Dak (Prescott) and say, ‘Hey, I seen it this way,’ and it’s awesome to see him grow in that aspect.

“He’s ready to go. Whatever the expectation is for him out there, I’m telling you he’s going to crush it. He’s ready.”

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