OLBDAL#55RES

Leighton Vander Esch

1× Pro BowlSolid Contributor📈 Late Developer · 2021

Height6'4"

Weight255 lb

BornFeb 8, 1996

Age30

CollegeBoise State See College Stats

ConferenceMountain West

Rookie yr2018

Draft2018 · Rd 1, Pick 19 · DAL

Combined Season Grid

Season totals or exact team stints. Career totals count each season once.

3 categories · One row per season · Scroll for all statistics

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Defense													Snap Counts						Advanced Defense & Coverage (2018+)
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty	Off	Off%	Def	Def%	ST	ST%	Tgt	Cmp	Cmp%	RateAll	ADOT	Prss	Hrry	QBKD	Bltz	MissTkl	Miss%
2018	22–23	DAL	16	—	133	97	36	2	1	0.0	3.0	2	7	0	—	0	0	—	0.0%	784	77.1%	181	43.2%	90	72	0.8	96.4	4.0	2	1	1	15	10	0.1
2019	23–24	DAL	9	—	70	41	29	1	1	0.5	2.5	0	3	1	—	0	0	—	0.0%	510	85.3%	44	18.6%	47	37	0.8	112.0	4.9	2	0	1	19	13	0.2
2020	24–25	DAL	10	—	57	29	28	1	1	1.0	3.0	0	0	1	—	0	0	—	0.0%	460	68.3%	40	15.2%	22	19	0.9	99.2	4.1	2	0	0	9	12	0.2
2021	25–26	DAL	17	—	72	43	29	4	1	1.0	6.0	1	2	0	—	0	0	1	0.1%	663	57.0%	87	17.8%	38	27	0.7	87.9	1.8	4	3	0	36	8	0.1
2022	26–27	DAL	14	—	83	47	36	4	1	1.0	6.0	0	1	1	—	0	0	—	0.0%	746	79.0%	55	14.5%	31	24	0.8	95.4	3.8	3	2	0	17	3	0.0
2023	27–28	DAL	5	—	27	14	13	1	0	0.0	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	—	0.0%	269	90.2%	19	14.6%	13	9	0.7	107.5	0.2	0	0	0	18	1	0.0
Career		—	71	—	442	271	171	13	5	3.5	21.5	3	13	3	1	1	0	1	0.0%	3,432	73.4%	426	22.4%	241	188	—	—	—	13	6	2	114	47	—

Career Value · VORP

12 career value over replacement — #3573 all-time of 4,695. 2/season above a replacement-level LB.

Draft OutcomeMiss ↓

Pick #19 (Rd 1) · DAL · 2018 · -7.7 vs expected KV-H

49actual

56.7 expected · Δ−7.7

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Compare Leighton Vander Esch vs Player Report data error

Career arc · VAL by season

6 seasons · peak 2.7 in 2018

VAL (Value Above League) measures each NFL season against that season's league; the dashed line is zero — a season that added nothing above the league's fringe. ● peak · ○ league-best season.

What he added · wins above replacement

0.3 career wins over 6 seasons · 1 win = 13.08 VAL

Best season · 2018 · +0.2 wins

Defence+0.1
Team defence (share)+0.1

VAL 3.0 measures each part of a NFL player's game in his sport's own currency against what that season's fringe players produced, converted to team wins with rates fitted from every team-season in the encyclopedia.

Position percentile · EDGE

#831 of 1,595 all-time pass rushers by KV-H

048th percentile100

StatVault · statvault.org/players/nfl/leighton-vander-eschJSON

Defense

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	VAL
2018	22–23	DAL	16	12*	133	97	36	2	1	0.0	3.0	2	7	0	—	0	2.7
2019	23–24	DAL	9	8*	70	41	29	1	1	0.5	2.5	0	3	1	—	0	0.7
2020	24–25	DAL	10	7*	57	29	28	1	1	1.0	3.0	0	0	1	—	0	0
2021	25–26	DAL	17	10*	72	43	29	4	1	1.0	6.0	1	2	0	—	0	0.7
2022	26–27	DAL	13	11*	83	47	36	4	1	1.0	6.0	0	1	1	—	0	0
2023	27–28	DAL	5	5*	27	14	13	1	0	0.0	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0
Career			70	53*	442	271	171	13	5	3.5	21.5	3	13	3	1	1	4.1

* GS not available from free sources — SG* estimated from snap share (nflverse 2012+)

Snap Counts

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Off	Off%	Def	Def%	ST	ST%
2018	22–23	DAL	16	12*	—	0.0%	784	77.1%	181	43.2%
2019	23–24	DAL	9	8*	—	0.0%	510	85.3%	44	18.6%
2020	24–25	DAL	10	7*	—	0.0%	460	68.3%	40	15.2%
2021	25–26	DAL	17	10*	1	0.1%	663	57.0%	87	17.8%
2022	26–27	DAL	14	11*	—	0.0%	746	79.0%	55	14.5%
2023	27–28	DAL	5	5*	—	0.0%	269	90.2%	19	14.6%
Career			71	53*	1	0.0%	3,432	73.4%	426	22.4%

* GS not available from free sources — SG* estimated from snap share (nflverse 2012+)

Advanced Defense & Coverage (2018+)

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Cmp	Cmp%	RateAll	ADOT	Prss	Hrry	QBKD	Bltz	MissTkl	Miss%
2018	22–23	DAL	16	12*	90	72	0.8	96.4	4.0	2	1	1	15	10	0.1
2019	23–24	DAL	9	8*	47	37	0.8	112.0	4.9	2	0	1	19	13	0.2
2020	24–25	DAL	10	7*	22	19	0.9	99.2	4.1	2	0	0	9	12	0.2
2021	25–26	DAL	17	10*	38	27	0.7	87.9	1.8	4	3	0	36	8	0.1
2022	26–27	DAL	14	11*	31	24	0.8	95.4	3.8	3	2	0	17	3	0.0
2023	27–28	DAL	5	5*	13	9	0.7	107.5	0.2	0	0	0	18	1	0.0
Career			71	53*	241	188	—	—	—	13	6	2	114	47	—

* GS not available from free sources — SG* estimated from snap share (nflverse 2012+)

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 49 · Solid

A solid career by KV-H: a well-rounded profile that scores 49 of 100, era-normalized against sacks/g peers across 6 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 48.6 × longevity 1 = KV-H 49· confidence 94%

What builds the career mark of 47

On-field 31.4

Availability 15.6

On-field production Staying available

Season-by-season quality (era-relative sacks/g)

2018bestavg 442023

Sacks career shape vs similar outside linebackers

2019-2022

Peak-aligned view: center line is each player's best Sacks season; left/right show build-up, staying power, and decline. Comparison set uses same-position similar-player comps when available.