One of the biggest reasons the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive performance in 2019 didn’t ascend to the standards set in 2018 was the linebacker position. Leighton Vander Esch burst onto the scene as a rookie, playing with reckless abandon once he joined the rotation. Jaylon Smith was two years removed from his gruesome knee and nerve injury and playing like the first-round talent he was blessed with. The pair flourished in 2018, but the follow-up wasn’t cut from the same cloth. As the defense in general struggled, both young stars struggled to execute at the same level.
Vander Esch then injured his neck in a contest against the Eagles, further soiling his season. Following the bye, he’d miss the next game, but play the majority of the next two contests before finally succumbing and being put on the shelf. Initially written off as nothing serious, there were Freudian slips from the coaching staff and front office about concerns for his ability to return to the field at all. Fortunately those worries seem to have been alleviated following surgery and now he’s ready to reclaim his throne in a new defense run by Mike Nolan.
Over the weekend, Vander Esch sat down with Bobby Belt and Jane Slater of The ‘Boys and Girl Podcast, to talk about his health, the coaching and scheme change, the first Cowboys’ first-round pick since they selected him and much more on the state of the Cowboys.
On his readiness for the upcoming season, Vander Esch says it’s full speed ahead. “I am doing wonderful,” he told the hosts. “I feel as good now as I ever have, before I even got hurt. I mean I’m ready to roll. I’ve been training full-go for a couple of months now, so it’s not holding me back whatsoever. I feel, like I said, just as good as I ever have. I’m just excited to play football at this point and get back on the field. And like I said, whenever they give us the green light to go, we’re going to be ready. And then from that time on it’s full-go and don’t let off the gas pedal.”
The NFL recently had a memo to team owners leak they were changing direction that all 32 teams had to be eligible to reopen facilities before any individual team was allowed. Now, facilities will open up as early as Tuesday, May 19 if the local government allows.
There’s been no word on whether or not the Cowboys will be one of the first teams to return, seeing how Texas lifted their stay-at-home orders a few weeks ago but have seen their number of Covid-19 infections grow since doing so. Whenever Vander Esch gets a chance to do more than rehab with the club, he’ll be more than ready to work on the changes the new staff has implemented.
“There’s some things here and there that you can pick up between the two, but anytime you’re learning a new defense, there’s going to be so much of a…everybody uses different words as far as terminology, so it’s mainly that.
If you can get your good habits and just the way you play football down to the T, by practicing every single day the way you’re going to play, by running to every single ball, and just pushing yourself, it’s going to turn into good things on the field. And like I said, then scheme comes in, and everything the coaches taught you, you can apply that, and I think that’s when you can be really dangerous, and I think that’s how we’re going to be this year.”
That will serve as a stark contrast to what the Dallas defense was in 2019. The Cowboys fell from ninth to 19th in Football Outsider’s DVOA metric, which measures how good a team is on a play-by-play basis compared with league average performance and weighed against opponent quality. Because Dallas forced so few turnovers, their defense spent far too much time on the field. The performance of individual players suffered and Vander Esch was no exception.
Pro Football Focus ranked him the seventh-best LB in 2018, tied with Smith with both Cowboys earning an 84.4 overall grade. In 2019, Vander Esch dropped to a 58.6, down to 98th. The biggest culprit was a lack of fundamentals in tackling. PFF saw his missed tackle rate skyrocket from one every 8.6 tackles to one every 6.8.
The change in staff will provide a chance to do things differently in trying to return to the level achieved in 2018. Vander Esch though doesn’t see anything drastic happening to his role, though, as he’s already familiar with having multiple responsibilities and knowledge requirements for various roles.
“Well I wouldn’t even really say that the roles change that much. In the Cover 3 systems now today, the mike (middle) and the will (weakside) are essentially the same thing, the Boise State Bronco revealed. “We can play a position here, we can play a position there. And especially as linebackers, we should know every position on the field and what they’re doing anyway, because that’s going to make you a better player.”
“The faster we can get everybody on the same page right now with all the stuff that we’re dealing with – I know it’s hard to meet virtually and do all that – but the faster we can get everybody on the same page, the better off we’re going to be. Obviously we have more adversity because we’re putting in a new playbook, we’re putting in a new system.”
The third-year pro waxed poetic about the General, Sean Lee, returning to the field for one more season.
“When I found that out, I was so pumped. It’s just so valuable having a guy like him in the room, not just for his ability with football and his knowledge, but just the person he is. I think it’s contagious the way he prepares, the way he carries himself,” Vander Esch told the hosts. He also mentioned he’s positive a deal with Dak Prescott will be made by the club and is looking forward to facing off against his old head coach Jason Garrett, who is now running the Giants’ offense.
Full Interview
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