Cowboys’ Jalen Tolbert drawing up better 2023 season

Jalen Tolbert’s rookie season as a third-round draft choice didn’t go as well as he or the Dallas Cowboys hoped in 2022, so the former South Alabama wide receiver drew up a new plan for 2023.

“Ask him to see his notebook one day,” Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer told reporters. “It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen — the way he prepares his mind. For a young player, a second-year player, I was blown away. I told him to save that, and I used that in the front of the (offensive meeting) because it’s dynamic. …

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“That’s what this game requires. It’s not just talent. The mental side — these players don’t get enough credit for how hard it is to do what they do in playing full speed and reacting to moving parts. But he’s figuring it out. He’s also working his ass off.”

Tolbert will get the opportunity to test that work on Saturday, when Dallas kicks off its preseason schedule.

“I’m excited to go out and continue to get better and continue to compete and show my improvement from last season,” Tolbert said on Wednesday, “so I’m just looking forward to going out and having fun with my brothers.”

In his first NFL season, Tolbert caught two passes for 12 yards while playing 89 offensive snaps in eight games.

Tolbert said his comfort level this year is much greater than it was as a rookie.

“It’s day-and-night,” the former McGill-Toolen Catholic High School star said. “Obviously, once you do something for a year and you have the opportunity to do it again, you’ll be more confident and comfortable in what you are doing. And so just coming out this year understanding what’s required of me, what I need to do, where I need to be at, understanding the chemistry that I need with (quarterback) Dak (Prescott) and the offense — being in the spot I’m expected to be in and making the play I’m expected to make — is what we worked on this offseason. …

“I’ve feel like I’ve taken a big leap as far as confidence and route running, being able to go to multiple spots and be comfortable there, being able to understand the bigger picture with defenses and coverages, a lot of everything, so just being able to grow upon that this offseason was big.”

Tolbert credits some of that growth to the notebook referenced by Schottenheimer.

“I love art. I like to draw,” Tolbert said. “Even in college, I would go out to our fieldhouse and just, on a dry-erase board, draw up the plays. Me being able to draw it up and just see every spot and picture it is a way that I learn. This past offseason, in my game room at my house, I got a dry-erase board installed in there, so I was just drawing plays. …

“I made (the notebook) like it would be a dry-erase board. I drew up everything and highlighted it, took pictures and side notes on stuff that I can learn or how I think about certain stuff and just have it all in my notebook, so I can just open it and look at it when I need to.”

Dallas’ first depth chart of the preseason shows three starting wide receivers. CeeDee Lamb has been a Pro Bowler each of the past two seasons, six-time 1,000-yard receiver Brandin Cooks came from the Houston Texans in an offseason trade and Michael Gallup is seeking to regain 1,000-yard form after missing 11 games in the past two seasons.

Tolbert is listed as a second-teamer with Simi Fehoko and KaVontae Turpin. Fehoko has three receptions for 24 yards in two seasons with Dallas. Turpin was a Pro Bowl returner last season, when he also caught one pass.

“I see a guy who’s figured it out,” Schottenheimer said about Tolbert. “He figured, ‘Hey, last year didn’t get off to a great start.’ I know I talked about him in the spring. He was one of the first guys in the building.”

The Cowboys will open their preseason schedule against the Jacksonville Jaguars at 4 p.m. CDT Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.