'You're A Wild Man!' Dallas Cowboys Jalen Tolbert An Explosive Special-Teams Shocker

'You're a wild man!' Dallas Cowboys' Jalen Tolbert emerges as an explosive special-teamer - and even shocks his own coach.

An August 29 trade of cornerback Kelvin Joseph to the Miami Dolphins left a bit of a hole in the Dallas Cowboys special-teams coverage. But in a shock even to his own coach, receiver Jalen Tolbert just got done filling that hole.

“That first tackle was elite.” special-teams coordinator "Bones'' Fassel said in reflection of Tolbert's big hit in Dallas' 38-3 Week 4 blowout of the Patriots. “I was like, ‘JT, you’re a wild man! You’re a wild man! Where did this come from? Great job.”

Where did "JT'' come from? He was a third-round draft pick in 2022 who had shown flashes of brilliance while playing at South Alabama … but was slow to make a mark on this Cowboys team.

Jalen Tolbert

“I hope they call on me.” Tolbert said on the subject of a vacancy anywhere in the lineup. “That’s something that I want to be able to take over, and I want to take over.”

Finally getting the call in the season-opener, Tolbert recorded a tackle against the New York Giants on the Cowboys' first punt of the season, contributing a bit to a lopsided win.

Tolbert served notice to the coaches and fans on Sunday during the win over the Patriots when he delivered a big blow on punt returner DeMario Douglas for a 2-yard loss, pinning the Pats on their own 10-yard line.

Tolbert came all the way from the right side to the left hash mark, eluding the blocker to make the tackle.

And no, Fassel admitted that he didn’t see Tolbert’s contribution coming quite like this.

“The NFL was a big jump for him,'' the coach said. "Nobody was ever disappointed or down; it was just kind of like a redshirt year. Then, this year, he gained a lot of confidence. I really feel like his special-teams aggressiveness, go-get-it mentality has helped him on offense, and maybe it’s back and forth, too, you know? Some of his catches on offense have given him confidence to run and hit on teams.”

Tolbert previously had only three catches for 18 yards during the first three games of the season, but stepped up on offense as well against the Patriots.

His first catch was in the second minute of the game when he hooked up with quarterback Dak Prescott for Tolbert’s current career long of 18 yards.

He went on to have a total of four catches on four targets for 53 yards in making a substantial contribution to the Cowboy offense.  But the "wild-man'' special-teams tackle is what is leaving the lasting impression, at least on coach Fassel.