News: SDFW: Dallas Cowboys Hot Take: Leighton Vander Esch, worse than Jaylon Smith

John813

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Sturm has a big article on Smith, and has 4 defensive coaches grade Smith and others on the defense over a handful of plays.
Some good analysis imo. Shows a team failure at times in regards to players being in right/wrong position.
 

visionary

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Are you fooled by his act? Or are you justifying this form of fraud. He won't fool dan quinn. Don't let the past remind us of what we are not now.

He is a reflection of this team and it’s culture
He sees people getting paid to do crap so he will follow suit
 

ondaedg

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Maybe they both suck and we need new linebackers next year?

They’re both finesse linebackers who struggle taking on blocks and are better in pursuit rather than making tackles north and south.
 

KJJ

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Would have never imagined from what we saw of Jaylon and LVE in 2018 that we would be seeing a topic like this especially about LVE. He looked like he was going to have a Hall of Fame career after his rookie year. Injuries have really affected his play. As for Jaylon I can still see that great 4th down play he made against Deshaun Watson in 2018. The drop off of both players is one of the big reasons our defense has gotten so bad. It doesn’t seem that long ago when both players were being considered two of the best young LB’s in the league.

 

ondaedg

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Get some bigger bodies up front and you'll see vastly improved LB'er play. Simple as that.

If you plan on protecting them100% of the time then yes. But at some point they are going to have to put their big boy pants on and learn to stack and shed and make a play when things aren’t perfect for them.
 

ondaedg

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Would have never imagined from what we saw of Jaylon and LVE in 2018 that we would be seeing a topic like this especially about LVE. He looked like he was going to have a Hall of Fame career after his rookie year. Injuries have really affected his play. As for Jaylon I can still see that great 4th down play he made against Deshaun Watson in 2018. The drop off of both players is one of the big reasons our defense has gotten so bad. It doesn’t seem that long ago when both players were being considered two of the best young LB’s in the league.



I’ve posted this video before but I can’t stop thinking about how it perfectly summarizes the way Jaylon plays his position.

 

reddyuta

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the one terrible memory i have of LVE this season when he inexplicably went the wrong way against the Ravens and allowed Lamar to have a huge gain,its as if his instincts have disappeared since his neck injury/
 

Creeper

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I disagree with the premise of the article. Lot's of people here have criticized LVE. I said they shouldn't pick up his option more than a month ago. But I also disagree that his injuries which have kept him off the field are not a contributing factor, and maybe the system is too. It is hard to criticize a player for not making plays when he doesn't play. The criticism leveled at LVE is about his fragility, which is a bigger problem than his crappy play when he plays.

In any case, yeah, we know he is a disappointment. But he is also on a rookie contract costing them $3.7 against the CAP while Smith costs them $9.8 million in 2021.
 

Tussinman

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Something not talked about enough is how much Anthony Hitchens meant to our linebacking group. Hitchens is pretty much a black Sean Lee in terms of his knowledge and instincts for the game. His starting games at all three LB spots as a rookie is still one of the most impressive things I've ever seen from a player. Even though he was dinged up that final year in Dallas dude still suited up every Sunday and played at a pretty high level.
Agreed. Fans (especially casuals) have no respect for guys like Hitchens, Donald Driver, Frank Gore who consistently play high level for a long time but aren't flashy.

I'd rather have one of them be a solid NFL starter for 10 years then have them have 1 or 2 elite years then fall off the face of the Earth.Most casual fans only care about the flashy madden like all-pro seasons even if there's usually a sharp drop off right after (yeah screw that, give me a solid reliable NFL starter who plays 85% as good but does it for 2x longer)
 

speedkilz88

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the one terrible memory i have of LVE this season when he inexplicably went the wrong way against the Ravens and allowed Lamar to have a huge gain,its as if his instincts have disappeared since his neck injury/
Sean Lee has done the same thing this past season. When you can't name a LB that played well then maybe there were other factors.
 

JayFord

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As good as they were in 2018 is how bad they were in 2020

neither one of them played good this year that can be attributed to scheme but scheme or not both played like it was their first year at linebacker
 

Typhus

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Maybe they both suck and we need new linebackers next year?
Like a Zach Cunningham that was taken in the 2nd round @ 25 by the Texans.
A true gladiator of the game.
We like the opposite approach, bring us the fragile and injured.
 

ABQCOWBOY

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Missed tackles are deceptive. You have to actually get to the tackle to miss it. Jaylon was running lost in the woods a lot of last season. Not even in the plays. Still, no excuse, both had terrible years IMO.
 

Birch_Wood

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To be consistent, this would be labeled a "hate Leighton" thread by some.
 

Typhus

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Completely agree. My view is Smith tried not to make tackles and LVE just could not tackle. Both were terrible and need to be replaced. The LB core needs to be completely overturned.
For those that love the number, the stats, they would love Jaylon.
For those that look just at the stats, just take a look at his league leading assist numbers,, that should tell you all you need to know about the player and why stats are so misleading when evaluating.
 

Beaker42

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Two solid talents coming out with injury concerns we used 1st and 2nd round picks on that have added to our questionable high drafts picks we’ve made on defense this era.

And cumulatively have been major contributing factors preventing this franchise from more success without a better defense.
Draft Bolton and put him at SAM, leave Peg Leg at MIKE and play Vander Crapper at WILL.
 
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