10 things to know about Cowboys LB Leighton Vander Esch, including the family bus
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Here are 10 things you need to know about Cowboys linebacker Leighton Vander Esch.
1. His interesting collegiate nickname
Baby Giraffe. He said he got the nickname from being “super skinny and tall” during his first couple of years at Boise State. He got the nickname from a coach.
“My freshman and sophomore year that was kind of my nickname I guess you could say because of how I was developing,” he said on The Ben & Skin Show on 105.3 FM The Fan [KRLD-FM]. “I was like 6-4, 200 pounds pretty much when I came in. I was a twig. I had some developing, physically, to do, and I did just that. I was long and lanky like a giraffe. My college coach Andy Avalos, the D-coordinator there at Boise State gave me that name. It kind of stuck and went through. It died down this year. I don’t even know if anyone called me it this year as a junior.”
More on his other nickname later …
Cowboys
2. The Vander Esch ExpressFriends and family of Cowboys rookie Leighton Vander Esch pose for a group photo near Grangeville, Idaho. The group traveled aboard the family’s bus, dubbed the Vander Esch Express, from Riggins, Idaho, to Seattle for the Cowboys’ game on Sept. 23, 2018.(Darwin Vander Esch)
Vander Esch grew up in Riggins, Idaho, population 410, set deep in a canyon where the Salmon and Little Salmon rivers converge. Fishing, whitewater rafting, jet boat races and the rodeo highlight the community calendar.
Leighton’s father, Darwin, is the mastermind behind the 40-foot bus that doubles as a billboard on wheels. Leighton’s name and achievements are emblazoned in vinyl displays on the exterior of the bus, an eBay find Darwin purchased in 2014. He wanted to transport supporters the three hours down to Boise State to watch Leighton, a former walk-on, play on the Boise State’s famed blue turf in person. Darwin also hoped to raise the profile of his son and, by virtue, others who hail from small towns like Riggins.
The ride is a 1992 MCI Coach that Darwin bought for $14,000 after keeping an eye on the market for some time. This one made for a good deal, he said, with about 500,000 miles logged and a comfortable former life in Southern California, transporting passengers to and from an Amtrak station and Disneyland. Some of the seats have been removed from the 53-passenger bus to create space for cots and the propane stove Darwin and Sandy have had since they were married 35 years ago.
Leighton, who rode the bus home from his final two bowl games at Boise State, the Cactus Bowl and Las Vegas Bowl, wasn’t sure what to think of his dad’s purchase at first.
“I didn’t know how it was going to turn out,” said Leighton, who would get in a quick visit with the bus passengers after Sunday’s game before they headed back to Riggins, “but it’s pretty neat. It’s pretty special having support like that, having a big locomotive for everybody to jump on and go to games together.”
To read more about Hairopoulos’ journey on the Vander Esch Express, click here.
3. New deal
Vander Esch and the Cowboys agreed to a two-year, $11 million deal this offseason in March.
This was certainly an upgrade from the one-year $2 million deal he signed in 2022 after Vander Esch had a strong season and commanded a better market.
Vander Esch played a decisive role in the Cowboys’ Nov. 24 win over the New York Giants, stopping Giants quarterback Daniel Jones at the 1-yard line. When the 26-year-old sat out the last three games of the regular season with an injury, the Cowboys missed his disruptive presence. Still, he’s had issues with injuries and has lost some of the speed he came in with as a rookie five years ago.
Retaining Vander Esch was a priority for the Cowboys. He was second on the team in tackles last season with 100 — despite missing three games — and flashed the promise he did as a rookie before injuries set his career path on a different course.
4. His three sistersLeighton Vander Esch’s sisters Christon (left), Morgon and Shannon (right) chat during the trip to watch the Cowboys rookie play in Seattle. Family and friends took the family bus dubbed the Vander Esch Express from their hometown of Riggins, Idaho, to Seattle for the game.(Kate Hairopoulos / Staff)
Vander Esch has three older sisters: Christon, Morgon and Shannon. Leighton is six years younger than his youngest sister.
An Idaho Statesman story by Dave Southorn said that Vander Esch’s biggest influences in his life are this three older sisters. Morgan told Southorn that her little brother has “the biggest heart.” From Southorn:
Probably the best example of that is when he got his driver’s license, Leighton volunteered to do something most adults don’t even want to do.
He said whenever his sisters wanted to go out for a night on the town, he’d come pick them up. And he did, even in the wee hours of the morning.
“We definitely took him up on that a couple of times,” Christon said. “We’d pick on him a bit when he was little, but he still always wanted to be around.”
Another wild fact from the Statesman story: Leighton’s conditioning routine in Idaho involved literally running up and down mountains.
5. Hoops skills
Vander Esch was also a multi-sport athlete, according to the Idaho Statesman. The publication said he played four years of varsity basketball, winning two state championships in both basketball and football.
He also ran track, did the high jump, and, according to Southorn, his sisters said “he could be in the X Games as a snowmobile jumper if he really wanted.”
And as seen below, he’s got some ups.
6. 8-man football
Vander Esch led the Cowboys in tackles as a rookie with 102 total (the next closest was Jaylon Smith at 82). He credited his time playing 8-man football with his success as a rookie.
“I think that’s one of the things I’ve always really prided myself on is just being a sure tackler,” Vander Esch said. “I think it goes all the way back to high school, playing eight-man ball. There’s a lot of tackles you have to make in space.
“People can believe me if they want to believe me, but I know the majority probably won’t because they probably overlook eight-man football. I know that taught me a lot, being able to make plays in space.”
Defense was not the only position he played in 8-man football, either. From The Ringer’s Robert Mays:
“In eight-man football, only three down linemen are ineligible receivers on offense, and outside linebackers double as cornerbacks on defense. Vander Esch spent most of that first season filling the latter role, but during the team’s first playoff game [Vander Esch’s high school coach Charlie] Shepherd decided to make a drastic change. Salmon River’s offense couldn’t move the ball against Garden Valley High, and in a last-ditch effort, the coach threw in Vander Esch as a replacement quarterback. ‘He went out there and brought us back, gave us a chance, an opportunity to win that game at the end,’ Shepherd says. ‘I’d have to say that game was when I really decided, or really opened my eyes that, yes, this kid is … he’s a little bit above average. He’s a special talent.'”
7. His first job
Here’s what Vander Esch told The Dallas Morning News’ Michael Hogue:
“I was a raft guide on the Salmon River back home in Riggins, Idaho. It’s a good river. We’ve got class four rapids. It was fun. I got to meet people from all over the country who were coming into raft. I did it for about five years.”
8. The Wolf Hunter
You’ve probably seen Vander Esch howl after making a big play on the field. You might’ve also seen a photo of Vander Esch draped a real wolf head and fur over his shoulder and posed with his fiancé, Maddy Tucker, captioning the Instagram photo “Just the WOLF and his fox.”
How did that come to be? Dallas coaches coined the nickname for their eventual first-round pick during the draft process when he showed them a photo of wolves he’d hunted in Alaska with his father.
Read more about the Wolf Hunter nickname here.
9. The outdoor life
Sports Illustrated’s Andy Benoit profiled the Vander Esch family and their love of skeet shooting. In his story, he described their love for the outdoors life.
“The Vander Esch home is like a taxidermied zoo. Every room is decorated with hunting trophies, from elk, mountain lion, various deer, chamois, lynx and wolves. And in storage are more of these animals, plus black bears, brown bears and buffalo. Antlers are displayed all over, casually mixed in with family portraits, coasters and throw pillows. Where there’s not a dead animal there’s some sort of Boise State memorabilia. Leighton was the only kid who spent high school in this house; before that, the family lived about three minutes down the road, on the other side of the river.
“Family friends bought that place and moved in in 2013, but you get the sense it wouldn’t be weird if a Vander Esch waltzed through their old front door without knocking. Almost everyone in Riggins knows everyone, and certainly everyone knows the Vander Eschs.
“Darwin, a consummate patriarch, for 18 years has run a professional hunting business, first in Idaho, which he sold in 2010, and now Alaska, where he travels for two-month stretches in spring and fall. He’s a revered outdoorsman–and in Riggins, that’s the equivalent of being a renowned banker in New York or an award-winning movie executive in Los Angeles.
10: An insane growth spurt
According to The Ringer’s Robert Mays, Vander Esch grew six inches over a 12-month span. And it wasn’t all fun for the linebacker.
“My legs, my hips, my back, everything [hurt],” Vander Esch says. “I couldn’t run. I could not run. It was miserable.”
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.