PAINFULLY: Cowboys fans blaming 49ers All-Pro for potentially ending Dallas linebacker’s career
Cowboys fans blaming 49ers All-Pro for potentially ending Dallas linebacker’s career
On social media, Dallas Cowboys supporters are accusing 49ers offensive tackle Trent Williams of ruining linebacker Leighton Vander Esch’s season and maybe jeopardizing his professional career.
After suffering a neck injury on October 8 against San Francisco, Dallas owner Jerry Jones revealed on Tuesday during a local radio commercial that the 27-year-old star would miss the rest of the season. Williams appeared to push Vander Esch from behind, sending the linebacker into defensive lineman Micah Parsons and breaking his arm. Vander Esch jammed Parsons’ leg with his neck as a result of the incident.
Fans of the Cowboys on X, the previous Twitter, had chastised Williams for what they saw to be a “unnecessary” or “dirty” play. With the release of this injury information, the criticism has only intensified. Naturally, that dynamic isn’t helped by the fact that one of Williams’ most well-known photos shows him grinning at a furious Cowboys fan.
over the injury, Jones said that there are now concerns over Vander Esch’s career going forward.
“He’s a crucial component of that defense out there,” Jones stated on Dallas’s 105.3 FM. “We wish him well, but given the nature of his possible injury, I really have to think longer term and beyond what it means for the team in terms of next week or next month.” Everything about it revolves around what’s best for him.
Since his college days, the former recruit from Boise State has struggled with neck ailments. In 2016, a pinched nerve prevented him from playing the second half of his sophomore season. He had to have surgery to treat a spinal stenosis diagnosis, which causes the spinal canal in the bottom section of the spine to narrow, and missed seven professional games in 2019 as a result of a nerve problem in his neck. In addition, he had to cope with nerve problems in his right shoulder in 2022 and a fractured collarbone in 2020.
Williams has already this season delivered a contentious single that went unpunished. The lineman hit a Giants defensive lineman in the face back in September, and he got away with it because the officials failed to see it. A week later, he was punished for the incident.
Williams did not get any kind of punishment or consequence for pushing Vander Esch, but it is evident that Cowboys supporters are still thinking about the play more than a month after the game.
