News: Is Leighton Vander Esch the NFL’s top performing first rounder?

[buybuydandavis]

They can and will renegotiate his contract. So don’t even concern yourself or others with that. It is way too far away.

And we will get entirely screwed on the contract.

The leverage is all with Cooper. Management will look like fools if they end up giving up a 1st for a year and a half rental, so Cooper's agent will turn the screws on them. If he doesn't, Cooper should sue him for malpractice.

 

[buybuydandavis]

Is Leighton Vander Esch the NFL’s top performing first rounder?

This was a great pick. Similar to the Frederick pick. A fair complaint was that it was a reach, but the guy turned out to be better than his pick. Great evaluation of talent.

I wanted to go with Ridley. Which was more in line with the consensus estimates on value. And now that we've spent a first on Cooper, a Ridley pick looks even better in hindsight.

But LVE is looking like a homerun. But for our splitting time at LB between the 3, he'd be a shoe in for the Pro Bowl. I'm not sure now.

I'll be sick if we come out of the bye with Wilson still starting at SLB. None of our top 3 should be taken off the field for Wilson.

 

[Melonfeud]

Is Leighton Vander Esch the NFL’s top performing first rounder?
https://thelandryhat.com/2018/10/31/dallas-cowboys-leighton-vander-esch-top/



The primary positions of concern prior to the start of the first round in Dallas were mainly at wide receiver and safety. The Cowboys had just released their longtime number one wideout in Dez Bryant earlier that month. Although the previous signing of free agent wide receiver Allen Hurns did appear to cushion the blow a bit.

As for a starting safety, the Cowboys simply didn’t appear to have one. 2017 starter Byron Jones had made the shift back to corner, leaving a vacancy alongside safety Jeff Heath. Former sixth rounder Xavier Woods was the top candidate to fill the role.

With those two needs on the forefront, the Cowboys decided to selected Vander Esch with the 19th overall pick in the draft anyway, leaving many fans scratching their heads. Especially considering the top wide receiver prospect, Alabama’s Calvin Ridley, was still on the board.

But Dallas knew their defense struggled mightily when their oft-injured Pro Bowl linebacker and defensive leader Sean Lee was forced to miss games. Last season, the Cowboys lost four out of the five games Lee was sidelined due to injury. Combined with the continued rehabilitation of linebacker Jaylon Smith following a devastating knee injury he suffered in college, the Cowboys linebacker corps had many questions coming into 2018. The presence of Vander Esch eliminated those concerns...

Ha,the first posted three lines of that article told me all I needed to know,therefore I felt no need in 'clicking on' the attached link.

*they don't know their Azz from a hole in the ground over there

 

[jazzcat22]

And we will get entirely screwed on the contract.

The leverage is all with Cooper. Management will look like fools if they end up giving up a 1st for a year and a half rental, so Cooper's agent will turn the screws on them. If he doesn't, Cooper should sue him for malpractice.

And as I said, that is a ways off. Too far to be concerned with for now.

 

[buybuydandavis]

And as I said, that is a ways off. Too far to be concerned with for now.

Short time horizons make for perennial mediocrity.

 

[Risen Star]

It's amazing how much people rely on PFF's grades.

Do you really believe Vander Esch is the 4th best LB in the league this year? If you do you're irrational.

 

[kumizi]

It's amazing how much people rely on PFF's grades.

Do you really believe Vander Esch is the 4th best LB in the league this year? If you do you're irrational.

only when it suits the narrative

 

[plasticman]

The Cowboys drafted the best player available and hit it right on.

Time will tell if they did the same thing in the 2019 draft by selected a 25 year old Cooper nit it won't be a long time.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

instead we wasted it on Pooper who will walk after next year and we'll get a 3rd round comp pick in return


so basically we traded our 2019 1st rounder for a 2021 3rd round pick


Smart move, jerruh

Who said Cooper will walk?

 

[waving monkey]

Short time horizons make for perennial mediocrity.

That's the Corporate view in the west.

 

[WhizKid]

LVE = DROY

Darius Leonard

 

[Melonfeud]

The Cowboys drafted the best player available and hit it right on.

Time will tell if they did the same thing in the 2019 draft by selected a 25 year old Cooper nit it won't be a long time.

I'd like to think they'd focused in on addressing the linebacker position as priority #1 pre draft day.
Not BPA overall, but at that specific position

 

[bcavi]

The 8-man football seems to have helped him playing in space. He has good eyes, feet, and great anticipation when tackling in the open field. At this point, this was a great pick.

 

[Mr_437]

Doesn't matter LVE is a backup now.

 

[beware_d-ware]

And we will get entirely screwed on the contract.

The leverage is all with Cooper. Management will look like fools if they end up giving up a 1st for a year and a half rental, so Cooper's agent will turn the screws on them. If he doesn't, Cooper should sue him for malpractice.

My guess is they had a chat with his agent and already have a framework for a contract in place. You don't trade a 1st rounder for a guy with one year left unless you 100% intend on paying him.

The Rams just traded a 1st for Brandin Cooks then signed him for 5 years, 81 million, $49 mil guaranteed. I think Cooper will come in in the same sort of ball park. If Dallas extends him for 4 years, $56 million, $30 million guaranteed, I'd think that'd be a pretty cheap deal.

 

[bcavi]

437, at least we can't complain about the lack of depth at the position. Lee is a great player and we have someone with possibly a higher ceiling, and young, rotating behind him. With Jaylon playing the way he is, we are just fine. They can rotate as much as they want in my opinion, backups to the forefront and vice versa. We haven't experienced hardly any drop off in play on the field amongst all three so far.

 

[xwalker]

absolutely. Pooper is just another guy at receiver, he's not julio jones and he takes a lot of plays off. He doesn't run good routes except the deep routes which he only catches if a) his head is in the game and b) he's not covered. you don't trade a top 15 pick for that.

You have no clue what you're talking about.

He is a terrific route runner.

He's not perfect, but route running is unequivocally NOT a problem for Cooper.

 

[Vanilla2]

They can and will renegotiate his contract. So don’t even concern yourself or others with that. It is way too far away.

Don’t feed it

 

[beware_d-ware]

PFF's grades aren't all that. LVE is balling hard though, and I'm not sure if there are 10 better Mikes out there right now.

People are right that he won't get DROY recognition because of his lack of turnovers, but dude is a tackle machine. He is playing better in year 1 than I ever expected, and long term, I don't think a Brian Urlacher kind of ceiling is out of the question.

DROY, IMO will come down to Denzel Ward (killing it in Cleveland right now, lots of splash plays), Darius Leonard (tackle machine as well, stuffs the stat sheet more than LVE because the defense around him sucks), or Bradley Chubb (7 sacks right now, pretty much guaranteed to make double digits by year's end).

 

[Az Lurker]

He doesn't have the splash plays that usually get DPOY and DROY awards, but he's the most sure tackler I can remember seeing. Going into last week he'd missed 1 tackle all year which is an incredible success rate for anyone, especially a rookie with 1 year starting experience going into the season.