The Dallas Cowboys have seen a rash of defections on Tuesday, but they have been able to stop the bleeding. It’s fitting that the player being brought back did similar when it came to the defense last season. Sean Lee, a star-crossed star of the defense since being drafted in 2010, lost his starting job in 2018 to upstart rookie Leighton Vander Esch. But when the 2018 first-round pick was lost to a serious neck injury, Lee returned to the lineup and did his best to plug a leaky defense.
Now, with Vander Esch’s future still very much in question, Lee has decided to not only return to football for am 11th season, but he’s agreed to do so in the only place he knows, Dallas.
Sean Lee back to #Cowboys at 1 year, $4.5 million with $2 million fully guaranteed
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 17, 2020
Drafted in the second round in 2010, Lee has endured his share, and several other player’s worth of injuries, but he turned in his first 16-game season of his career in 2019. In 13 starts, he finished with 86 tackles, a sack and an interception as he manned the weak-side linebacker spot next to Jaylon Smith.
On his career Lee has 14 interceptions. He’s also missed 51 of a possible 160 games.
He played 2019 under an incentive-laden contract, restructuring the final year of his deal to reflect his status as a backup and an injury risk. He ended up making over $6 million on the season from a base salary of $3.5 million which was half what he originally was scheduled to get.
Bringing Lee back is essential for the Cowboys. Although Smith is a much better weakside linebacker than Mike, he will likely play in the middle if Vander Esch can’t go.
Dallas has unofficially declared this an area of concern when they recently met with Oklahoma’s Kenneth Murray, a projected first-round pick. If they had faith Vander Esch was certainly returning to play, then there’s no way they’d consider linebacker that early in the draft.
Getting Lee back helps depth wise, but as a one-year solution he certainly won’t stand in the way if the club wants to pour more high-pedigree draft capital into the least important of the defense’s three units.
[lawrence-related id=641713,641694,641624][lawrence-newsletter]