Dallas Cowboys: Leighton Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith’s 30 snaps

Coming into this Dallas Cowboys season, there was a ton of chatter about the future for some of their guys. Some of those guys in question, for as crazy as it might sound, have been key for the Cowboys during their tenures… when they could stay on the field, of course.

However, the taste that was last season’s defensive bloodbath leaves, is more than enough to consider making changes. That’s just what seemed to be in play for Leighton Vander Esch and/or Jaylon Smith heading into this season.

While Smith is on the third year of his six-year deal for $68 million, LVE had his fifth-year option declined by the Cowboys earlier this calendar year. Again though, there were questions surrounding both of them, anyway, coming into this season.

Last Thursday’s opening night contest against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers probably didn’t help a ton either. Here is the specific evidence in question.

Well and as Drummond put it so elegantly, “just… wow”. How can you have two high picks and one on a $70 million dollar deal, only playing a small fraction of the contest?

Dallas Cowboys: Leighton Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith’s 30 snaps

That must mean that all the chatter is true and that they aren’t long, at all, for the future of the Dallas Cowboys. Right? Well, it could be. They could be on the way out of the door and specifically in the case of Vander Esch, as they aren’t contractually tied to him.

However, it could mean something else too. Just like the circumstances surrounding Ezekiel Elliott in last week’s opener, the game plan and game flow just weren’t conducive to a ton of snaps for these guys.

Tom Brady likes to toss the ball around, use multiple packages, and often ones that have a lot of route-work in them. You need fast, multiple, partial hit/partial cover guys in there to compete with that. Yes, this was likely just a one-off, at least, to that extreme of a disparity. Smith has always been known for his speed, meaning he can play with Parsons and a lot more in a spread-out format than he did on Thursday.

Dallas Cowboys: Will this be a trend with them this season?

While Vander Esch is athletic and can run, he would be the one most in question in those circumstances. That has nothing to do with his overall fate though, as his health is why he, likely, didn’t get his option exercised though, as you can’t depend on him to be there for, now, 17 games especially.

There is also this. With a ton of new hybrid guys brought in with Quinn and that already know his system, that wasn’t done by mistake or without intent. So, it wasn’t as much a knock on those two, as it was that those other hybrid types, Damontae Kazee for example, was better suited for what they wanted to do on Thursday. At least, that’s what it appeared to be on the surface thus far.

The situation is worth a monitor though, as if they can’t get on the field more often over the next couple of weeks, then it’s bigger than just game plan and game flow. However, with the way things played out on Thursday and the number of snaps they got, that would be the safe assumption.