'We Lost A Brother': Dallas Cowboys Show Support For Leighton Vander Esch After Season-Ending Injury

'We Lost A Brother': Dallas Cowboys Show Support For Leighton Vander Esch After Season-Ending Injury

Injuries have been an unfortunate trend throughout Leighton Vander Esch's career, and sadly, they struck him down again recently.

Vander Esch left the Cowboys' loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Oct. 8 with a back injury, although the extent wasn't clear for a while. On Tuesday, though, news broke that Vander Esch's injury isn't just season-ending, but possibly career-threatening. If Vander Esch, 27, is truly done in the NFL, it would be a massive blow to the Cowboys' defense.

For how large of an impact Vander Esch has on the field, he has an equally large one off of it. After the severity of his injury broke, his Cowboys teammates offered an outpouring of support.

Vander Esch celebrates a big play during last year's game against the Cincinnati Bengals / © Jerome Miron, USA TODAY

"It's hard to lose a brother like Leighton," defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence said. "He's someone that we rely on each and every day ... We're praying for him to continue to get better."

The good news is that, despite the injury, Vander Esch will still be there to offer support to his teammates every game day. That support alone means the world for the Cowboys' younger players such as fellow linebacker Damone Clark.

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"Leighton has always been in meetings with us," Clark said. "He's always got a message to send in the group message [still after the injury]. Leighton is still pouring his heart out on the sideline for us and pointing out things that he's seeing and being a coach on the sideline for us."

A 2018 first-round pick out of Boise State, Vander Esch has been a consistent presence in the middle of the Cowboys' defense when healthy. His best season came as a rookie, when he had 140 total tackles and earned second-team All-Pro honors. While he hasn't quite reached that peak since, as injuries have caused him to miss time in four of the last five seasons, he has still been a very important part of Dallas' defensive success.

No matter what happens from here, though, the Cowboys will always have their teammate's back.

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Said Lawrence: "Definitely gotta show our gratitude for him and what he did for us last year. We're still with him and he's still with us in spirit.''