Leighton Vander Esch

While Micah Parsons emerged as the star of the Cowboys defense last season, Vander Esch was able to make a contribution in the middle by not missing a game due to injury for the first time since he was a rookie in 2018. His weekly tackle totals were way down, however, as much due to a reduced snap count as Parsons taking away his opportunities. Vander Esch's days as an IDP asset likely are behind him, but the brittle linebacker still provides some stability to the middle of the Dallas defense when he's on the field, and he's capable of double-digit tackles in a game when he's allowed to handle a significant workload.

The 19th overall pick in the 2018 Draft has had trouble staying healthy since his impressive rookie campaign, missing 13 games over the last two seasons. Vander Esch's per-game production declined in 2020 as well as he simply didn't look like the same player, either as a tackler or in coverage. He got the double whammy this offseason of having the fifth-year option on his rookie contract declined while watching the Cowboys draft his successor Micah Parsons with the 12th overall pick of this year's draft. If Vander Esch is 100 percent, he could still make an impact, but his snaps may be managed in an effort to keep him on the field, putting a cap on his IDP potential.

A neck injury all but wrecked Vander Esch's 2019, but he still projects as a top-three linebacker IDP if he can get back to the form he showed as a rookie in 2018. In fact, he's probably the only linebacker with a prayer of keeping up with top IDP Darius Leonard. While playing just 1,312 defensive snaps, Vander Esch piled up 212 tackles. Based on those numbers, we might expect Vander Esch to go over 160 tackles should he play 1,000 snaps. A lot of IDP owners might chase teammate and fellow linebacker Jaylon Smith after he posted 142 tackles last year, but it's Vander Esch who warrants the higher ranking if healthy.

Linebacker duos don't come much more established than Sean Lee and Jaylon Smith were last year, yet Vander Esch emphatically introduced himself as the Cowboys' top linebacker as a rookie, with 140 tackles on just 784 snaps. Some of those stops occurred on special teams, where he played 181 snaps (a figure that will drop in 2019), but even if last year's tackle rate is significantly lowered, Vander Esch projects for gigantic totals now that he'll have a three-down role all year. At 6-4, 256, with elite athleticism, Vander Esch might be the Brian Urlacher of this era.

The 19th overall pick in the 2018 draft, Vander Esch joins a Cowboys linebacking corps packed with talent but also fraught with uncertainty. The Boise State product has outstanding speed and athleticism for his size, giving him plenty of upside in a three-down role as he racks up tackles, handles coverage assignments and makes the occasional blitzing foray. Whether he sees a three-down role on a roster that already features oft-injured Sean Lee and third-year LB Jaylon Smith is the big question, but Dallas' initial depth chart lists the rookie as the starting middle linebacker, seemingly putting him ahead of Smith in nickel packages. There were also concerns about a possible neck issue prior to the draft, but the Cowboys presumably didn't consider him a health risk when they used a first-round pick on him. If the workload is there for Vander Esch, elite production could follow.