Cowboys BREAKING: LB Leighton Vander Esch Signs With Dallas

Vander Esch and the Cowboys just decided his NFL free-agency fate.

FRISCO - On a November night in Philadelphia in 2018, the Dallas Cowboys seemed set for life.

Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz tried to trick their defense, attempting a naked bootleg from inside Dallas’ 10. But Leighton Vander Esch was too smart; Jaylon Smith too fast. Not only did Wentz not score, the linebackers didn’t allow him to make it back to the line of scrimmage.

“Wow!' is the only way to describe this!” crowed NBC Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth during the replay. “There’s the speed – sideline to sideline – of these linebackers. They’re good. They’re young. Scary. NFC East quarterbacks are going to have fits dealing with this duo for a long time.”

But just more than three years later, “a long time” has changed - though on Friday, Vander Esch agreed to a one-year contract to return to Dallas, a source told CowboysSI.com.

We predicted a year ago that after the 2021 season, one – maybe both – of that dynamic duo would be an ex-Cowboy. Jaylon is long gone. But Vander Esch? The events of the last week changed his fate (and may be causing Micah Parsons to play more as an edge) and made him a Cowboy once again.

Dallas' linebacking corps is now led by rookie Parsons (again, pending his chess-piece movability), a good thing. But Vander Esch’s star having been muted by injuries is not. ... one of the reasons he'd been left dangling for a bit (though sources tell us the Steelers and Patriots were both interested in him).

Cowboys fans across the globe were, like Collinsworth, giddy in 2018. Vander Esch made the Pro Bowl as a rookie, finishing second in the NFL in solo tackles and winning NFC Defensive Player of the Week after making 18 against the Eagles. Athletic, rugged and savvy, he seemed the incarnation of Lee Roy Jordan and Sean Lee.

But then Vander Esch suffered a neck injury in 2019 that required surgery, and then a broken collar bone in 2020. The issues continued; so did Vander Esch's efforts to play through them.

But the bottom line: Heavily swayed by his durability issue, the Cowboys last spring declined to pick up Vander Esch’s $9.1 million fifth-year option, allowing him to be an unrestricted free agent. The club believes he's fully healthy now, however, so they once again believe in Leighton Vander Esch.

Follow FishSports on Twitter

Follow Cowboys / Fish on Facebook

Subscribe to the Cowboys Fish Report on YouTube for constant daily Cowboys live-stream podcasts and reports!