3 Cowboys on Thin Ice Heading Into Week 2

1. Jalen Tolbert, Wide Receiver

One of the main areas of concern for the Cowboys heading into the opener was at wide receiver. While they understood they had one of the best in the game in CeeDee Lamb as well as a solid No. 2 in Brandin Cooks, the depth beyond that wasn't set.

Dallas boasted several promising players including 2022 third-round pick Jalent Tolbert, 2023 seventh-round pick Jalen Brooks, and rookie sixth-rounder Ryan Flournoy. They were also going to try and get KaVontae Turpin involved more. He scored on a punt return for a touchdown but dropped his only target.

That was one more opportunity than Flournoy received since the rookie was inactive in Week 1. As for Tolbert and Brooks, they both had just one catch. Brooks brought in his only target for 18 yards, picking up yards after the catch in the process.

Tolbert ended up with two passes thrown his way and had just one catch for 12 yards. It wasn't much to go off of but he also painted himself in a poor light on the opening drive when he was flagged for offensive holding. This negated a five-yard run from Ezeiell Elliott and meant the Cowboys would face first-and-20 at their own 23 instead of a second-and-five at the 38.

Their entire first series was ugly with Dak Prescott being sacked to set up a second-and-27. Not all of this was on Tolbert but had he not been flagged, they might have gotten off to an even quicker start on Sunday. Going forward, they're going to need to see more from him.

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