Ask Leighton Vander Esch about his improbable path from eight-man high school football to first-round pick of the Dallas
Cowboys
Allen Robinson Jersey , and the rookie linebacker is quick with a retort of never being fazed by brighter lights or bigger cities.
Ask the former Boise State walk-on what he does to relax, and Vander Esch stares silently as his smile grows.
”Uh,” he said Friday, the first day of rookie minicamp. ”I don’t even know.”
Maybe that helps explain his rise to Mountain West Conference defensive player of the year and his showing at the combine and other workouts that stood
out to new Dallas linebackers coach Ben Bloom. The Cowboys drafted Vander Esch
19th overall two weeks ago.
”It’s kind of hard for me to relax, honestly,” said Vander Esch, who signed an $11.8 million, four-year deal later Friday. ”At this point, expectations are
so high there’s no time to relax. There’s no days off. You’ve just got to keep
trucking away.”
Linebacker was one of the primary needs for Dallas going into the draft because of Sean Lee’s history of injuries, Jaylon Smith’s continuing recovery
from a serious college knee injury and Anthony Hitchens‘ departure in free
agency.
The Cowboys hadn’t drafted a linebacker in the first round since Bobby Carpenter 12 years ago in almost the same spot (18th). Carpenter didn’t get a
second contract, leaving Dallas after four years in a career that ended after
seven seasons. He never had more than 37 tackles.
Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli is already talking rotation with Lee, Smith and Vander Esch for two spots. If Lee stays healthy, that’s more likely to
mean shared time between Vander Esch and Smith, a second-round pick in 2016.
Smith didn’t play as a rookie while recovering from the devastating injury during his final game at Notre Dame and was inconsistent last season,
particularly early in the year when he was playing more than expected after
Hitchens injured a knee in the preseason.
”We’re going to play the best guys,” Bloom said. ”Everybody linebacker in the room has the ability to play at least two positions. We’ll get the best guys on
the field and they’ll be asked to have multiple positions.”
Lee’s best fit is weakside linebacker, but he’s missed at least one game because of injury in seven of his eight seasons. The only exception was his
All-Pro year in 2016.
Vander Esch considers himself a middle linebacker and flatly denied a report from before the draft that a neck injury sustained at Boise had prompted some
NFL teams to downgrade him on draft boards. Regardless, the Cowboys weren’t one
of those teams.
Owner and general manager Jerry Jones likes to compare Vander Esch to Rolando McClain
Cam Robinson Jersey , a first-round flameout in Oakland who had the best year of his career in 2014 in helping the Cowboys to just their second
playoff win since their last Super Bowl title following the 1995 season.
Size would be a good place to start with that connection. McClain was 6-foot-4, same as Vander Esch, with an almost identical listed weight. The
rookie is listed at 256.
”There’s always pressure to perform,” Vander Esch said. ”Obviously this is the biggest level now so there’s even more of it. You’ve just got to relax
yourself and go out and do what you do.”
After helping Salmon River High School in Riggins, Idaho, to a pair of state titles, Vander Esch walked on at Boise, about 150 miles south of his hometown.
After a redshirt year, he progressed fast enough to bypass his senior season and
enter the draft.
”You’ve got to be able to adapt quick no matter what,” Vander Esch said. ”You’ve got to able to take on anything and not worry about it, not stress
yourself out, not get all flustered with it.”
With his focus so much on football, Vander Esch didn’t mind getting flustered over a question about what he does for fun.
NOTES: DT Maliek Collins is likely out until training camp after breaking a bone in his left foot Thursday during offseason workouts at the team’s practice
facility. He is expected to have his second surgery on that foot since January.
The first procedure was for a stress reaction that bothered him last season,
although he didn’t miss any games. … WR Terrance Williams, who broke a bone in
his right foot in January, has been working on the side with trainers. Coach
Jason Garrett said his recovery is on schedule, which likely means a return at
training camp.
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When it comes to football, Saquon Barkley has a knack for doing what might sound impossible.
Whether it’s his freakish feats in the weight room
Malik Jefferson Jersey , or his game-breaking plays during a three-year career at Penn State (during which he scored a school-record 53 touchdowns), the
6-foot, 233-pounder earned another distinction when he was selected second
overall by the Giants in the draft last month instead of a quarterback.
In a QB-driven league where an every-down back is an endangered species, Barkley was the highest running back drafted in more than a decade.
The next hurdle for the Bronx, New York, native? Tempering expectations that he’ll become the Giants’ hometown hero.
”I don’t see them,” Barkley said. ”I know a lot of people try and set expectations for me. No offense to you guys, but I set my own expectations.”
Which will start by using the same mentality he’s always had.
”I have to believe in myself, set goals for myself, set expectations for myself and continue to work for those goals every single day,” Barkley said.
”Just to continue to come in, be humble. I don’t want to be that guy that thinks
he is a high draft pick and that he has it all. Nothing is given to you.
Everything is earned. You have to have that mindset that you have to work every
single day. Learn every single day. Be a student of the day, learn from the guys
and the coaches. The Elis (Manning) and the Odells (Beckham Jr.) on the field
and off the field. Just work. Hard work got me here.”
Like the highest running back taken since Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush in 2006, Barkley is more of a do-everything player than a conventional running
back, returning kicks, including two for touchdowns last season, one of which
was 98 yards.
Citing Ezekiel Elliott and Le’Veon Bell as examples, Barkley talked about how valuable versatile running backs can be.
”I am not a guy that just lines up in the back field and is going to bang his head
Marlon Mack Jersey , bang his head, bang his head,” he said. ”I am a guy that is willing to do anything for his team. Whether it be a kick returner or a
punt returner, running down on kickoffs, lining up in the slot, running a dummy
play or a fake play, whatever it takes. I want to be an athlete, not just a
running back. Obviously, I play the running back position, but I want to be an
all-around guy and an all-around player.”
While coach Pat Shurmer senses the Giants drafted a quick study, he knows Barkley has to dive into the playbook before he can truly assess that.
”He needs to be everything he thinks he can be and then we’ll worry about that (expectations) later,” Shurmer said, adding: ”I’m certainly high on Saquon
. If you ask him, he’ll tell you he wants to learn what he’s doing and compete
at a high level and regardless of what my expectations are for him.”
The expectation among fans and some in the media is that Barkley makes an immediate impact, which would result in a potent offense featuring wide
receivers Beckham and Sterling Shepard and tight end Evan Engram, as long as
37-year-old Eli Manning can return to his two-time Super Bowl MVP form.
For now, Barkley, along with the other players at the Giants’ three-day rookie minicamp this weekend
Dan Bailey Jersey , will get the first taste of what NFL practices are like, and what it’s like to not only be an NFL player but a New York Giant.
”We’re going to put them through the paces for three days here and try and teach them,” Shurmer said. ”I think what’s important is and I’ve talked to the
staff, I’ve talked to our current players, we want to teach our rookies the
right way from the very beginning – here is your iPad, here is your locker, here
is where you need to be, here is how you need to dress, here are the fields,
`please’ and `thank-you’ work, push in your chair. We want to really train these
guys in the New York Giants’ way and I think it’s every facet of their life and
then, certainly what is most obvious, football.”
A mentality to which the well-polished Barkley is looking forward.
”It is an honor to play for this franchise. Right when you walk in the building, you see the four Lombardi Trophies and you already know what the
standard is for this team and this program,” Barkley said. ”I am just happy to
be a part of it.”
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