Cowboys midseason stock report: Jalen Tolbert missing in action after 8 games

At 6-2 following a win over the Chicago Bears, the Dallas Cowboys have enjoyed a bye week and are starting to prepare for the Green Bay Packers in Week 10. In order to get to their impressive record, Dallas had to lean on several role players, including backup quarterback Cooper Rush.

Those who have stepped up have seen their stock increase but there are also some who have trended in the wrong direction. Here, we look at which players have seen their stock rise and fall at the midseason point, starting with some players with minimal movement, and working our way toward those who have completely changed the narrative surrounding them.

Dallas Cowboys midseason stock report after the bye week

Stock Slightly Up: Tony Pollard, Running Back

In Week 8, Tony Pollard had what many called a breakout game as he had 131 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries. Because of this, his stock around the league is at an all-time high. However, his stock within this fan base has only slightly increased.

This is because we have all seen Pollard put up solid numbers when given the chance. His play against the Bears shocked no one who follows this team, just as it won’t shock us when they inexplicably relegate him to a backup role when Ezekiel Elliott is back.

Through eight games this year, Pollard has 506 yards and five touchdowns. He’s on pace for 1,000 yards and 10 scores but probably won’t get there as this staff will continue to ‘Feed Zeke’ because that’s what Jerry Jones wants them to do.

Still, those who support the team know who the lead dog should be, but it’s good to see him starting to prove it more often.

Stock Slightly Down: CeeDee Lamb, Wide Receiver

Just as no one other than Jerry and Stephen Jones think Elliott is better than Pollard, no one other than Jerry and Stephen Jones thought trading Amari Cooper made any sense at all. In doing so, they were banking on CeeDee Lamb taking over as the No. 1 guy, and to be fair, he has the talent to do so.

However, as of the bye week, Lamb has yet to cross the 100-yard mark in a single game and has just three touchdown receptions. Overall, he has decent numbers with 42 catches for 556 yards but doesn’t take over the game the way Cooper could. For that reason, he’s seen his stock fall slightly.

Stock Moderately Up: Brett Maher, Kicker

This guy looks like a completely different person.

When Dallas decided to give up on rookie Jonathan Garibay and brought back Brett Maher, it felt as though the kicking game would be a disaster in 2022. That hasn’t been the case though as Maher has hit on 15-of-17 attempts as well as 18-of-19 extra points. Both of his missed field goals have been not only from more than 50-yards out, but they were more than 59-yards.

Overall, he’s 4-of-6 from beyond 50, including a game-winner over the Bengals. Inside of that, he’s a perfect 11-for-11.

His long on the season is 54-yards, so he’s not drilling them from 60-plus as he did during his first tenure, but we’ll take consistency inside of that range any day over the occasional jaw-dropping make.

Stock Moderately Down: DeMarcus Lawrence, EDGE

For the past two seasons, Pro Football Focus has been very high on DeMarcus Lawrence as he’s finished as the No. 4 edge rusher in the league in each of those campaigns. There will be those who scout based on the stat box alone and say he was bad due to his lack of quarterback sacks, but he was still generating pressures and shut down the run game on his side.

This season, things haven’t been as good. PFF currently has him at No. 38 for defensive ends and has dinged his run defense quite a bit. Of course, the analytical site isn’t perfect but it was easy to see Lawrence take a couple of bad angles in run defense against the Bears, which led to huge gains.

Lawrence is still a good player and has four sacks on the season — three against the Falcons — but he’s not dominating the way we’re used to seeing, which is why his stock has taken a hit.

Stock Way Up: Noah Brown, Wide Receiver

When the season began, Michael Gallup was still unable to suit up following an ACL tear in 2021. Also out was James Washington, who still has yet to play for Dallas. That meant outside of Lamb, the No. 2 wideout was going to be Noah Brown — which was a bit unnerving since he had never topped 184 yards in a season and had no career touchdowns.

That’s since changed for the former seventh-round pick as he answered the call when needed. Brown had a great debut with 68 yards on five receptions and then caught all five targets in Week 2 for 91 yards while scoring his first career touchdown.

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1571598680138055681?s=20&t=jd5pcwETPDIGAMwDZRxohQ

With Gallup back, his targets have gone down but he’s proven to be a reliable weapon. Brown has 25 catches on the season with 16 of them going for first downs. He’s also secured career a high in yardage (339) and is catching the ball at a 64.1 percent rate, which is also a personal best.

He’s not going to be a No. 1 guy but he’s someone that can make the clutch reception and is a beast in run blocking.

Stock Way Down: Jalen Tolbert, Wide Receiver

As impressive as Brown has been, Dallas was never supposed to turn to him in such a role. While Gallup was out, they expected rookie third-round pick Jalen Tolbert to rise to the occasion. The idea was that he would be the No. 3 guy behind Lamb and Washington but when Washington went down, he needed to step into a larger role.

Tolbert was unable to do so as he struggled throughout the preseason and has now been active for only four games. In those four games, he has just two targets — one was a drop and the other went for four yards.

The South Alabama product felt like a steal in Round 3 but now it’s fair to ask what his future holds since he couldn’t crack the rotation on a poor wide receiving corps.

Grading the Cowboys’ rookies midway through the 2022 season

The Dallas Cowboys have a history of drafting well and did so again. It's time to grade the 2022 rookies midway through this season.