The Cowboys defense has played mostly well through three games despite a disappointing 1-2 start to the season. Sean Lee is seen as the leader of the unit, but he has been far from the only one to play well on that side of the ball.
Lee, regarded as one of the better players at his position across the league, has had a history of trouble staying on the field. Lee was sidelined during the loss to the Seahawks, and it looks like he will be on the sideline for a few more games, too.
#Cowboys LB Sean Lee, who injured his other hamstring last night, is expected to miss a few weeks at least, sources say. First-round LB Leighton Vander Esch becomes all more important.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 24, 2018
Rapoport is hearing that the star linebacker will miss “a few weeks at least” after injuring his other hamstring during the week three defeat. Lee rebounded from leaving the Giants game with a hamstring injury by playing very well initially in the Seattle game. This is obviously not great news for a team that already has so many question marks surrounding the offensive side of the ball.
The one bright spot, however, is that rookie linebacker Leighton Vander Esch has played particularly well the last two games. After recording seven tackles in the week two victory over New York, LVE made 11 stops versus Seattle — including a team-high nine solo tackles.
Lee’s injury history is one of the reasons Dallas opted to invest a premium pick at the linebacker spot in the 2018 NFL Draft; is the 19th overall pick up to the challenge?