It wasn’t that long ago the he was the baby of the Cowboys defense. In 2018, Leighton Vander Esch was a fresh-faced youngster straight out of Boise State after playing eight-man football in high school. At the time, there were plenty of people questioning the Cowboys decision to select Vander Esch with the 19th overall pick in the 2018 draft. As mentioned, coming out of Idaho he could only play eight-man football in high school. He didn’t go to college at a school in one of the Power 5 conferences. It seemed pretty risky.
Leighton Vander Esch is not playing around this year, and that’s good news for the Cowboys
