Cowboys banking big on Bell, Clark with Vander Esch out for year

It seems as if the Cowboys pulled off the Band-Aid on the Leighton Vander Esch situation. Speaking on 105.3 the Fan Tuesday, Dallas owner Jerry Jones announced their star LB would miss the remainder of the season following a neck injury suffered in Week 5.

Initially there were hopes the 27-year-old would return from IR at some point in 2023. But the severity and nature of the injury coupled with his history of neck issues made that little more than wishful thinking. Now the reality has set in and Dallas must settle in to their alternative options for the remainder of the season.

As for Vander Esch’s long-term prognosis, it’s likely nothing will be decided officially until the offseason. But the short-term fallout is something that needs to be recognized. Reinforcements are not on the way this season and aside from some possible low-level churning, this is the LB squad Dallas has from here on out.

Even for a team like the Cowboys, who run very little base defense and rely heavily on their safeties in big nickel groups, they are desperately thin at the LB position. Only Damone Clark and Micah Parsons are listed as official LBs on the active roster.

Granted, Parsons is primarily an EDGE and Markquese Bell is a LB in most senses of the job description, but the point remains: they are thin and possibly an injury away from disaster.

When the postseason nears and yards get tough, having legit LBs on the field will be key. Jayron Kearse and Donovan Wilson are nice in a pinch and can serve many of the LB responsibilities, but they have limitations against the run.

While Dallas has multiple options on their practice squad, Clark and Bell are the only true starting level entities on the roster. Preserving them for the season is paramount because they represent the Cowboys best efforts at LB and especially at run defense.

How good are Clark and Bell against the run?

Dallas wisely prioritized pass defense in their roster construction over the years. They don’t NOT value run defense, but they know games are more often won and lost through the air so it’s understandable they’ve targeted dexterity and lateral movement over power and stoutness at the LB position.

With that said, Bell and Clark are pretty decent against the run this year. Both hold mid-level run defense grades from PFF and while only one charts high in average depth of rushing tackle, the other has a flawless tackle rate.

Average depth of rushing tackle (ADoRT) shows if a player is sitting back and waiting for the play to come to them, or if they’re attacking their run fits with confidence and efficiency. A fraction of a yard makes an enormous difference, so teams want their top LBs to post numbers as low as possible in ADoRT.

ADoRT is an area in which Clark has to improve. He’s making the tackle but he’s waiting too long and giving up too many yards beforehand. His average this season sits at 3.77 yards which ranks 29 in a field of 31.

Bell, on the other hand, is doing quite well in this regard. His ADoRT of 2.30 yards puts him just above Fred Warner at No. 11 this season. It’s safe to say Warner is tremendous company to keep.

Both players rate ahead of their practice squad counterparts and their safety alternatives so both will play critical run defending roles going forward.

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All about durability

While neither Bell nor Clark are superstar run defenders, both are perfectly equipped and good options to have for a team with Championship hopes like the Cowboys. But falloff behind them looks rather severe in all areas of defense so preserving Dallas’ top-two/last-two remains critical.

Clark isn’t big, per say, but he’s not small either. At 6-foot-3, 240-pounds, he’s built like a standard LB in today’s NFL. Bell, on the other hand, is a converted safety and looks as such.

At just 6-foot-3, 205-pounds, Bell is lighter than many of the Cowboys’ safeties, let alone lighter than most standard LBs. His workload on the more punishing running downs needs to be managed, even if he is one of the better run defenders in the NFL.

The NFL season isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. The teams that remain the healthiest are often the ones competing at the end.

Officially losing Vander Esch for the entire season puts added weight on the health and workload of Bell and Clark. The cavalry isn’t arriving from over the hill. Reinforcements aren’t coming. It’s all on the shoulders of Bell and Clark.

Story originally appeared on Cowboys Wire