Cowboys 2021 third-round pick Chauncey Golston will look to replace recently retired Tyrone Crawford

Leadership, run defense, and position flexibility are the three traits that best describe Iowa’s Chauncey Golston.

Leadership, run defense, and position flexibility were also the three traits that best described Tyrone Crawford over the final years of his career.

Coming into the NFL, both Golston and Crawford compare very similarly coming out of college. At the Iowa Pro Day, Golston measured in at 6’4 3/4” and 269-lbs. At the NFL Scouting Combine, Crawford measured in just under 6’4” and 275-lbs. Golston was rumored to gave slimmed down a bit to help with his testing at the Pro Day, so ideally he’ll probably play more around the 275 weight.

Comparing their athletic testing shows some similarity as well. Golston ran a 4.83 40-yard dash, to Crawford’s 4.82. Golston jumped 36” in the vertical, to Crawford’s 33” vertical. Golston posted a 119” broad jump, to Crawford’s 113” broad. Lastly, Golston ran a 7.47 three-cone, to Crawford’s 7.09. What this tells us is they have similar builds, play with similar power, with Golston showing a bit more explosiveness to his game, and Crawford with a bit more flexibility.

While Chauncey Golston and Tyrone Crawford are by no means identical players, it’s easy to see the Cowboys wanting a guy who can do things on a similar level that Crawford could. When watching the tape it’s easy to see the similarities in their style-of-play on the field.

We’ve seen this type of play from Crawford for years, especially when he was playing as a full-time defensive end. Crawford was always caught in the “tweener” mold, but his effort and power allowed for him to play up-and-down the line of scrimmage for the Cowboys for years. Golston did those same things at Iowa, where he lined up at the five-six-technique, four-I-technique, and three-technique for Iowa. While Golston has a ways to go as a pure-passer rusher from the defensive end position, his explosiveness and length shows up when rushing the passer from the inside.

It’s pretty obvious that Crawford is the better pass rusher between the two players, it’s also clear that Golston’s traits as a pass rusher can be coached up and developed. With 34 3/4” arms, and impressive explosiveness, Golston inside pass-rush has the ability to improve if he can improve his hand-strike placement and counter moves. Early on, you should expect to see Golston lined up at the weak-side defensive end position on obvious running downs, and he’ll likely see time as the under-tackle and 4-i technique in Quinn’s base 3-4 look. Golston also provides quality depth behind Lawrence as a rotational strong-side defensive end.

Another important aspect of Golston’s game is how much football character he adds to the locker room, even as a rookie. In his four (playing) years at Iowa, Golston was awarded multiple leadership, hustle, and captain awards from the Iowa coaching staff. In 2020, he was one of 24 semifinalists for Lott IMPACT Trophy.

The Lott IMPACT Trophy Honors College Football’s Defensive Best in Character and Performance

Established by The Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation, The Lott IMPACT Trophy honors college football’s best in character and performance. The award is unique because it represents the first college football award to give equal weight to personal character as well as athletic performance from a defensive college player and is the first national college football award based on the West Coast.

The IMPACT award is awarded annually to individuals who demonstrate excellence in the field of athletics and recognizes college football’s Defensive Player of the Year who best exemplifies the IMPACT acronym: Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity.

In 2019, he was awarded the Team Hustle Award by the Iowa coaching staff, an award he also received in 2018 as a RS Sophomore. With some questionable characters drafted in the 2021 Draft, the Cowboys did also add some high-quality characters in Golston, Fehoko, and Odighizuwa.