Leighton Vander Esch to miss the rest of 2023 season

Given Jones' comments, combined with the Vander Esch's injury history with his neck, which has already had one surgery and could be looking at another, it's fair to wonder if the linebacker will even be able to return to play next year, or at all.

"Let's just put it like this, I don't know and there are a lot of factors involved," Jones said. "He just really needs to see how this continues to heal and then go from that point as to whether or not he'll want to expose himself to injury."

Vander Esch had neck issues back in college at Boise State, where he missed half of the 2016 season with a pinched nerve in his neck but was still drafted in the first round by the Cowboys in 2018.

Vander Esch made the Pro Bowl as a rookie, but injuries started to surface after that, forcing him to miss seven games in 2019 and six more in 2020, the year he had neck surgery to help fix nerve issues.

Vander Esch missed just four total games in the previous two years and was having a solid season in 2023 before the injury in San Francisco.

In his absence, the Cowboys used a variety of different packages to help replace him, including safety Markquese Bell, newly-signed veteran Rashad Evans and even Micah Parsons has taken less pass-rushing snaps and has played linebacker more in recent weeks.