Cowboys' Leighton Vander Esch's career in jeopardy after latest injury

The Dallas Cowboys thrived on the field on Sunday against the New York Giants, and they continue to march as one of the NFL’s best after ten weeks. However, not everything has gone well for Americas’ team this season.

Their defense had already taken a big hit, with star CB Trevon Diggs suffering a season-ending injury in practice. Now, they will have to play the rest of the season — and maybe even further — without one of their best defensive players: Leighton Vander Esch.

The Boise State product had been out since the blowout loss to the San Francisco 49ers. He suffered yet another neck injury, and team owner Jerry Jones recently confirmed that he’s not going to be able to return from the Injured Reserve (IR) list this season:

“I would say that [him not coming back this season] is accurate,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan. “We had just completely left it up to how he was evolving. But he’s such a significant loss for us. He’s an integral part of that defense out there. But we just wish him well. The nature of his potential injury here causes me to really think longer time and beyond what it means for next week or next month, relatively to the team. It has everything to do with his best interest.”

He May Not Play Again

This is a major concern, as Vander Esch has a long history of neck injuries dating back to his days at Boise State. He missed six games of the 2016 season with a neck injury, but he was still taken in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

His promising career started with a Pro Bowl nod after leading the team in tackles despite being a rookie, but he suffered yet another neck injury in just his second season. He underwent another procedure to fix some nerve issues in his neck in 2021, which is why Jones admits his star LB might not want to put himself through this again in the future:

“Let’s just put it like this, I don’t know, and there are a lot of factors involved,” Jones said. “He just really needs to see how this continues to heal and then go from that point as to whether or not he’ll want to expose himself to injury.”

It’s Next Man Up In Dallas

In the meantime, Micah Parsons will have to pick up some of the slack and lineup at LB more often and less as a pass rusher. Also, Rashaan Evans is coming off playing a season-high 38 snaps at LB, and coach Mike McCarthy hinted at that being the plan going forward:

“It was definitely part of the progression that we wanted to put him on, so that was the plan going into this game,” McCarthy said of Evans. “Just the way the game went, it was good to get him more reps than we probably thought he would get. That was great. The personnel decision is definitely in front of us. We have some decisions to make.”

The Cowboys are sitting on a 6-3 record and have looked spectacular at times this season, but they continue to struggle against winning teams, and their defense will need to have a ‘next man up’ approach to make up for this significant loss.