Strengths: Size, athleticism, upside, instincts.
Weaknesses: Experience.
Leighton Vander Esch's parents painted his name, uniform number and some Boise State logos on the side of a full-sized transit bus and drove from Idaho to Las Vegas to see their son play in a bowl game last year.
It was a fun way to demonstrate parental pride, but the color scheme was rather subdued. If one of my kids were playing in a bowl game, I'd paint him riding a unicorn and slaying frost giants with a vorpal sword while racing down the freeway. It would look like six different Rush album covers threw up on the side of that bus. Because I am that proud a parent.
(Actually, my sons prefer it when I don't attend their athletic events and didn't even want to be mentioned in this write-up. Joke's on them.)
Anyhoo…
Vander Esch combines many of the strengths—and a few of the minor weaknesses—of top linebacker prospects Roquan Smith and Tremaine Edmunds. He's almost as athletic as Edmunds, and he is as effective at knifing through the line of scrimmage to make tackles or hurry throws as Smith. But Vander Esch was just a one-year starter at Boise State, and it shows when he is late to diagnose pass patterns, has a hard time disengaging from blockers or fails to protect his legs from cut blocks.
Vander Esch is an old-fashioned inside linebacker with just enough range to stay on the field on third downs. But the Cowboys are so needy at so many other positions that this is a luxury selection. Jerry Jones, as he so often does, drafted a guy with a lot of buzz instead of drafting the player the Cowboys really need.
At least the famous Cowboys bus and the Vander Esch bus can park side-by-side at team headquarters. Maybe they can even have bus races? The busses will be much quicker and faster than the Cowboys' current batch of wide receivers.
Grade: C-minus