Leighton Vander Esch

“One step makes a huge difference. Obviously, if you're in better position to make a tackle when you're farther up on him or to fit him up, that can give you a chance to go after the ball more.”

“People have criticized me my whole entire life, so it doesn't make a difference.”

“You have to be a grown man and take responsibility upon yourself to put the work in that you need to do.”

“That's what's fun about being a linebacker because you're commanding that whole defense.”

“Guys like us, how competitive we are, it's hard for us to shut our minds off. We're always thinking, always locked in, always in compete mode.”

“Being consistent is something I take pride in in myself, just being able to put in the work week in and week out, day in and day out.”

“If something isn't right in the locker room, we're going to get it right and fix it.”

“My athleticism and everything wasn't an issue.”

“I always set a high bar for myself. Always.”

“I'm not that flashy.”

“The more you can do, the more dynamic you are the more value you have.”

“We focus on ourselves every single day in practice, every meeting, getting the most out of it, taking it slow, not getting too far ahead of ourselves, not worrying about other teams in our division or other teams around the league.”

“I know what I've got to do. I'm going to set my mind towards it and I'm going to go do it.”

“If the ball is in the air, I'm going to go get it.”

“I'm going to try and save my money.”

“From what the doctors say, I was born with stenosis.”

“You've got to able to take on anything and not worry about it, not stress yourself out, not get all flustered with it.”

“Personally, when I would compare Boise and Dallas with each other, I think Dallas is just a little bit bigger scale than Boise.”

“Felt like so many different things happen on draft day. You never know where you will end up.”