USAT: Cowboys Wire audio clip

USAT: Cowboys Wire

Mar 18, 2022

The Cowboys defense of 2022 continues to take shape, even if it’s a shape few fans would have predicted just a short time ago. - After bypassing several big-name free agent linebackers in free agency, the front office has decided to once again bring back one of its own. Leighton Vander Esch will return to the Cowboys on a one-year deal, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and confirmed by the team. - Linebacker Micah Parsons, last season’s Defensive Rookie of the Year, is expected to once again play a significant number of snaps as an edge rusher; this move allows the team to maintain veteran continuity with a player who’s been effective at running the defense’s second level since being drafted in the first round by Dallas in 2018. - - Source: The #Cowboys have agreed to terms on a 1-year deal with LB Leighton Vander Esch. Their former first round pick is back. - — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 18, 2022 - - - Vander Esch, too, enjoyed a breakout year as a rookie, starting 11 of 16 games after coming out of Boise State. But the fan favorite who became known as “The Wolf Hunter” was sidelined by injury for much of his next two years, playing in just 19 of 32 games in 2019 and 2020. Last season saw a return to health but a lower snap count for Vander Esch; he saw action in all 17 games of the regular season, notching an interception and a sack and defending two passes while getting in on 77 tackles, four of them for a loss. - The Cowboys declined Vander Esch’s fifth-year option last May. His stint on the open market this offseason was short-lived and now ends with a return to the only pro team he’s known. - - List - - Cowboys News: Dorance deal done, Kearse 'not close,' Za'Darius Smith still in play? - - - - - - - - List - - See, what had happened was: A theory surfaces on Cowboys, Randy Gregory annulment - - - - - - - - List - - Cowboys 2022 free-agency tracker: Who stays, who goes, who comes in - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Email - - - - - Sign up - - - - - - - - Like this article? - Sign up for the Cowboys Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning - - - - An error has occured - - - Please re-enter your email address. - - - - - - Thanks for signing up! - - - You'll now receive the top Cowboys Wire stories each day directly in your inbox.

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