Cowboys linebacker Leighton Vander Esch appeared on The 'Boys and Girl Podcast with Bobby Belt and Jane Slater recently to talk about some football. Here are some of the highlights:
On how he’s feeling now after dealing with injuries last season...
Vander Esch: “I feel wonderful. I feel as good as I ever have, before I even got hurt. I’m ready to roll, I’ve been training full-go for a couple months now. It’s not holding me back whatsoever, I feel, like I said, just as good as I ever have. I’m just excited to play football at this point and get back on the field whenever they give us the green light to go, we’re going to be ready. From that time on, it’s full-go and don’t let off the gas pedal.”
On how the transition is going from Rod Marinelli’s defensive scheme to Mike Nolan’s...
Vander Esch: “There are some things here and there that you can pick up between the two. Anytime you’re learning a new defense, there’s going to be so much of a — everybody uses different words as far as terminology. ... I think it really just comes down to your effort. If you’re going to go out there on the field every single day of practice and you’re going to teach yourself good habits ... then the scheme just comes into play. If you can get your good habits and just the way you play football down to a tee by practicing every single day the way you’re going to play, by running to every single ball and just pushing yourself, it’s going to turn into good things on the field. And, like I said, then scheme comes in. Everything coach has taught you, you can apply that. I think that’s when you can be really dangerous and I think that’s how we’re going to be this year.”
On how his role will change in the new defense...
Vander Esch: “Well, I wouldn’t really say that the roles change that much. ... In a Cover-3 system, the Mike and the Will [linebacker] are essentially the same thing. You could even put some safeties in there, safeties playing in the box. We’re all X’s and we all know the different techniques that you play within the scheme. So if you just move some pieces around here and there, it really doesn’t matter. We literally are all X’s, we’re interchangeable. We can play a position here, we can play a position there, we should know, and especially as linebackers, we should know every position on the field and what they’re doing anyways because that’s going to make you a better player.”
On what makes Dak Prescott stand out...
Vander Esch: “He’s always working. You know he’s always putting in the work, being a leader on and off the field. I think his work ethic speaks for itself. He’s always pushing guys to go along with him, he’s always pushing himself to get better every single day and I think that just speaks wonders of a guy when you can see that when he’s away from football, that tells you what kind of character he is. So I know he’ll always be taking care of business just like he always is. They’ll get something done. I don’t know when, I don’t know what it is, I don’t know the details of it, but I’m positive they’ll get something done.”
On having Sean Lee back for another year...
Vander Esch: “Finding out that he was coming back to play another year after this past season put a huge smile on my face. When I found that out, I was so pumped. It’s just so valuable having a guy like him in the room not just for his ability with football and his knowledge, but just the person he is. I think it’s contagious, the way he prepares, the way he carries himself and it makes younger players want to be just like that. That’s the guy you want to be.
"The dude has dealt with pretty much every single bit of adversity he could possibly deal with as his career went on and look at him now. He stayed healthy the whole season last season, played good football for us and he has that intangible way he goes about things. You can’t replace that. The fact that you get that for a whole other year, I absolutely love it. I love the guy and I’m just excited to play football with him again.”
On facing Jason Garrett’s offense twice next season...
Vander Esch: “It’ll be like the old days of practice. But you’ve got to prepare every single week because you know they’re going to put some different things in. You know they’re going to try and do certain things to take advantage of certain weaknesses they may think that we have, that’s what every team does.”
On the Cowboys drafting CeeDee Lamb...
Vander Esch: “I was shocked. The whole time I didn’t even realize he was still on the board, I think it was that crazy. That’s a huge pickup for us and I’m looking forward to seeing what he’s going to do for us on the field. ... I’m just excited to get everybody together and get those guys learning.”
On what he did on the sideline while injured...
Vander Esch: “[It was] extremely difficult. I was just trying to do as much as I could to be there for [his teammates] and help them on the field even though I couldn’t play. I was trying to help them with plays, communications, signaling everything I possibly could. I was right there, I was always telling the coaches ‘whatever you need of me, whatever help you need, communication, signal calling, whatever it is on the sideline, I’m right there. Just tell me what you want me to do.’”
On meeting the new coaching staff...
Vander Esch: “It’s been different, but it’s kind of been interesting too for me though because Mike Nolan, our D-coordinator now, he pretty much took me on my tour when I visited in New Orleans when I was getting drafted. So him and I already had a really good relationship. I had never met Scott [McCurley], our linebacker coach, before. I hadn’t met George Edwards, our defensive assistant, before either. But I got to briefly talk to all of them early in January or middle of January. I got to talk to all of them and see them in person and pretty much before everything got locked down and got all crazy, I got to see them for a little bit. ... I know some of the guys didn’t have a chance to meet coach before, but I think we’re doing an extremely good job and we’re just locked into every single [virtual] meeting and we’re just ready to go.”
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May 21, 2020 at 12:50AM
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Cowboys LB Leighton Vander Esch doesn't see role changing much in new defense; 'ready to roll' after neck injury - The Dallas Morning News
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