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By Saad Yousuf May 25, 2019
Two weeks ago, Jalen Guyton stepped into the Cowboys locker room at The Star after the first rookie minicamp practice to talk to the media. He took a seat in front of Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott’s locker to host an unusual amount of attention from reporters relative to what one would expect for an undrafted rookie free agent.
Guyton’s history with the Metroplex warranted that kind of a scrum.
Four years ago, Guyton was preparing to walk across the stage as a state champion out of football powerhouse Allen High School. He was ready to embark on a football journey at Notre Dame, but a tumultuous 2015 redshirt season saw him get suspended from the team and eventually resulted in his transferring out. He moved closer to home at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas, to get his mind right and football career back on track. After a successful one-year stop in 2016, Guyton moved even closer to home to the University of North Texas.
That’s when he put his foot on the gas.
In 2017, Guyton proved to be a valuable weapon for North Texas quarterback Mason Fine, catching 49 passes for 775 yards and a team-high nine touchdowns. It led to his being named the Conference USA Co-Newcomer of the Year. His second season was a show of consistency, hauling in 54 passes for 805 yards and six touchdowns. Forgoing his senior year, Guyton entered the NFL Draft and went undrafted. Shortly after the draft, he decided to sign with the Cowboys despite a crowded wide receiver room.
“Every single practice, every single meeting, I’m just all the way totally bought into pouring myself into whatever I’m doing,” Guyton said. “I’m not letting any distraction of ‘Hope I don’t get cut’ or ‘Hope I make this and that team or hit the practice squad.’ That’ll happen as it does, but I’m focused on the next rep.”
In his playing career, Guyton has ridden the roller coaster of perception like few others. At Allen, he was catching passes from 2019 No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray and making big catches in big moments. He caught 124 passes for nearly 3,000 yards and 35 touchdowns over a two-year span and finished with a state championship both years. That atmosphere was a perfect foundation for his football career.
“More than anything at Allen, to be able to win at the level that we did and to do it however many times we did was really special and not to be taken lightly,” Guyton said. “It was a real focused approach to what we’re doing every single day: never getting comfortable, never getting complacent and always staying true to yourself.”
Guyton’s time at Allen included some of the peaks: the production, the winning and the interest. He was offered by Clemson, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Texas Tech and a number of other respected Power Five programs. He decided on Notre Dame, and his short time there was a low point on the roller coaster. He built himself back up at a community college and found stardom once again at North Texas. Then came the draft — seven rounds went by, and Guyton’s name wasn’t announced. He was low once again but turned it into positivity, as he used the freedom to sign with his hometown team.
Guyton knows he has an opportunity in Dallas. Cole Beasley’s departure to Buffalo created a hole for the Cowboys, and even though the team signed Randall Cobb in free agency, Cobb comes in on a one-year deal and is about to celebrate his 29th birthday. Tavon Austin and Allen Hurns are also in their late 20s. Whether it’s this season or beyond, Guyton has a chance to prove whether he can be part of a young receiver core that flaunts Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup.
“It’s a lot of All-Pro guys here that I have the opportunity to learn from and to watch very closely every single day,” Guyton said. “I’m taking advantage of watching them off of the field, definitely on the field — how they carry themselves, learning their behaviors and everything that they do. I know I have my eyes glued to guys like Amari and Jason Witten and Zeke because they’ve proven themselves.”
Some of the first-day jitters are wearing off as well as Guyton went from rookie minicamp to OTAs. Back to that first media scrum in front of Prescott’s locker, when the quarterback spontaneously showed himself to get a hat from his locker, Guyton jumped up to get out of his way.
Now he’s jumping on the field to catch passes thrown his way from Prescott.
“It’s kind of leveling out to where, OK, these are my teammates, these are my co-workers, so to speak,” Guyton said. “But I’m still closer to the side of the fan type of thing because it’s the Cowboys, because it’s on such a large stage and they’ve been on such a pedestal my entire life. I’m still kind of down here looking at it like, ‘Wow, it’s amazing to have this kind of opportunity.’”
Guyton’s perspective also speaks to how quickly the Cowboys have completely transitioned eras. At this time four years ago, when Guyton was graduating from high school, the Cowboys were entering an offseason following a controversial catch/no-catch with a quarterback in his prime, a star wide receiver and the NFL’s leading rusher, the latter two being 26 years old.
None of those players is on an NFL roster anymore.
One quote Guyton holds close is: “The enemy of progress is success.” He keeps that quote on his mind to remind himself never to let complacency sink in, whether it’s a successful high school career, stardom in college or a good day of practice at The Star.
He’s already done all of that within a 50-mile radius. Now, he’s focused on stringing together those practices, carving out a role and turning it into success at AT&T Stadium in the fall.
