Cowboys Camp: Vander Esch Neck Recovery: 'I Feel Amazing; I'm Over It'
FRISCO - It was first labeled as a "stinger.'' Then it became a "herniated disk.'' And finally, in mid-January, Leighton Vander Esch underwent neck surgery to deal with "cervical spinal stenosis.''
And now, as Dallas Cowboys training camp trudges on inside The Star in Frisco?
"I feel amazing,'' said Vander Esch, speaking to the DFW media in a Thursday conference call. "That's all behind me. I'm not worried about my neck any more."
It was at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis where Cowboys ownership first started to reveal positivity regarding the budding star's recovery from the non-invasive neck surgery.
“The feedback is good,'' said COO Stephen Jones, who added that Vander Esch will have “limitations” up until training camp when the team can hopefully “turn him loose.”
But then later at the Combine, owner Jerry Jones took the stage.
“He’s 100 percent in my eyes,'' Jerry said. "100 percent.''
Jerry himself will frequently point out the humor in him playing "Dr. Jerry.'' But his takes on injury issues are usually a blend of his innate optimism and reports he's been handed directly from Cowboys medical personnel.
And Vander Esch agrees with that prognosis.
"I've been training for three or four months hard,'' said LVE, who did some of the work in Dallas but much it it back home in Idaho at his local high school and says he's fully recovered. "I'm just excited to be back on the field.''
What we've been told about the process (which was likely about creating more space in the spine in Vander Esch's neck area) and the rehab: It can take six weeks after surgery for the patient to make "regular movements'' while avoiding twisting and lifting and the like. It can take six months for a full recovery, with a 90-percent chance of that full recovery.
That put Vander Esch, 23, on course to theoretically be healthy by mid-July ... and here we are. Vander Esch is so confident in his completed rehab that he looks forward to no longer being asked about it.
"I'm over it,'' he said - and the impression he means both the surgery and the questions about it.
The opportunity for Vander Esch to recapture his 2018 rookie-year brilliance and put behind him 2019 (when he played only played in nine games and was clearly plagued with discomfort) exists ... with time. And maybe he can also excel under a new coach Mike McCarthy-led coaching staff that is highly intrigued with how to use LVE as a unique weapon.
And if that time is coming? Many around the NFL view the Dallas linebacking trio of Sean Lee, Jaylon Smith and Vander Esch as elite. Vander Esch, who said he's been lining up at MIKE (but that MIKE and WILL are increasingly interchangeable), is adding a small neck roll of padding inside his shoulder pads (to absorb "shock'') and is learning some of the intricacies of the new defense.
"I think it’s going to create a lot of opportunities for turnovers,'' he said of McCarthy/Mike Nolan's new defense.
And what about his teammates' ability to prepare amid so much change, due to COVID-19 and more?
'You’ve got to be a grown man,'' he said. "It’s our responsibility. Just because we didn’t have an offseason, there’s no excuses.'
But otherwise?
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“This year,'' he said frankly, "we’ve got to stop talking about it and go do it. It’s as simple as that. ... We got a great group this year and I think we can do something extremely special with it. I just don't like talking about it. I like frickin' going out and actually doing it."
12:17 PM · Aug 6, 2020·Twitter Web App
Outside concerns about Vander Esch's neck may take time to fully go away. In that sense, the "100-percent'' observation seemed high. ... and the "limitations'' prognosis seemed right. But now?
"We're blazin' forward,'' Vander Esch said. "It's time to go.''
