Micah, Jaylon & Vander Esch: 'Attacking' A Super Cowboys Season?

'When you add me next to Jaylon and Vander Esch, I think that's scary, man.' - Micah Parsons

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 less than three years later, “a long time” is down to its last gasps. After the 2021 season, one – maybe both – of the dynamic duo will be an ex-Cowboy.

Vander Esch’s star has been muted by injuries. Smith has plateaued, arguably even regressed. And, exacerbated by the retirement of Sean Lee, the Cowboys felt so precarious about the position that last week they used two high draft picks – including their No. 1 choice – on, sure enough, linebackers.

Says new defensive coordinator Dan Quinn about the crowded position, “There will be some competition … ”

Despite their star-studded history, the Cowboys have rarely boasted an elite linebacker. Much less two in the same huddle.

Lee Roy Jordan was a tackling machine, Hollywood Henderson a talented character and DeMarcus Ware a Hall-of-Fame hybrid. But, for the most part, Dallas’ Super Bowl teams featured relatively pedestrian linebackers such as Dave Edwards, Bob Breunig and Ken Norton that were overshadowed by bigger-than-life linemen named Lilly, Harvey, Manster, Too Tall and Haley.

In their 61 seasons, the Cowboys boast only one true linebacker with multiple First-Team All-Pro seasons: Chuck Howley (five). All other Cowboys linebackers (not named Ware, who was really an EDGE player) have combined for only two such seasons: one each by Jordan and Sean Lee.

That’s why Collinsworth and Cowboys fans across the globe were so 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 was the incarnation of Jordan. 

Smith was not only a good story, he was a great player. Defying doubters who predicted he’d never play again, he rehabbed his shredded leg and used his garish speed and agility to make the Pro Bowl in 2019.

Teams would give their left Kiper for one of those prospects. The Cowboys had two.

But then Vander Esch deteriorated into a mortal, suffering a neck injury in 2019 that required surgery and a broken collar bone in 2020. In the prime of his ascension, he’s missed 13 games the last two seasons. Smith, amazingly, has yet to miss a game in his career, but he’s also lost his Waze to stardom. Too often he whiffs on mundane tackles for three-yard gains, only to drench a big hit with his signature, self-aggrandizing “Swipe.”

Bottom line: Heavily swayed by his durability inconsistency, the Cowboys declined to pick up Vander Esch’s $9.1 million fifth-year option, allowing him to be an unrestricted free agent after this season. Smith is signed through 2025, but the team could save around $5 million against the salary cap if they released him after this year. Though both are still just 25, one of the two almost assuredly won’t be on the 2022 roster.

But just because Vander Esch – “Lame Duck Leighton”? – is auditioning for a 2022 job doesn’t mean the Cowboys can’t have a tremendous linebacking trio in 2021.

READ MORE: Cowboys Decline On Vander Esch; Still In Team's Plans?

Their defense in 2020 was the worst in franchise history, surrendering a nauseating 6,000 yards, 57 touchdowns and 473 points. Accordingly, the focus of their draft (eight of 11 picks) was defense. After signing free agent Keanu Neal in March, the Cowboys drafted Micah Parsons (12th overall) and LSU’s Jabril Cox (fourth round).

Quinn takes over a unit full of questions, but also inherits a linebacker room saturated with talent. In the mold of Bobby Wagner in Seattle, he wants three-down linebackers big enough to fill a gap in the trenches and fast enough to shadow a running back in space.

Says head coach Mike McCarthy of Parsons, “He’s a multidimensional and multi-positional player for us.”

The Penn State linebacker, the team tells our Mike Fisher, was the top defensive player on Dallas’ draft board.

READ MORE: Sources: Dallas Cowboys Tried To Trade Up To 6 - But Also Had Micah No. 1

At 6-foot-3 with 4.39 speed, he can play all three positions and is considered a pass-rush sniper. Somewhere, somehow, he’ll be on the field with Vander Esch and Smith.

“I think they’re going to take me under their wing and teach me how to be a pro football player and help me get better every day,” Parsons said of the two veterans. “And we’re going to push each other, and I think once we all come together, we’ll play at an elite level. This defense can be the best defense in the National Football League.”

Added Parsons via Michael Irvin's podcast. "I'm gonna challenge everyone, push everyone, so I think our morale's gonna go through the roof.And I think when you add me next to Jaylon and Vander Esch, I think that's scary, man. You got three athletic linebackers that can all hustle and play and get to the ball?

"Man ...  it's a terrorist attack."

We will forgive the kid his overzealous choice of words. We get it.

Though unfathomable during that game in Philadelphia three seasons ago, if Vander Esch, Smith and Parsons stay healthy and play to their potential the Cowboys might just get a "scary'' and beautiful beginning of the end. Nowhere near set for life. But perhaps super for one season.