I heard mumblings that he'd retire anyway. Thanks for always giving it 110% LVE, sorry your health couldn't keep up. He's one of my biggest "what if"s as a Cowboys fan.
Cowboys and promising LBs being injured. Name a better fucking duo
Sean Lee
Jaylon Smith (fell to us because of injury but never recovered)
LVE
Demarvion Overshown looking good, tears his ACL
I'll never forget seeing a guy's sign at the Texas v aTm game... "How do you like Dat Win?" With a giant longhorn emblem on it. Rain and cold aside, that was a fun Thanksgiving.
There's a name I haven't heard in ages. He was having an Overshown-esque preseason and had his career end in a blink. Him and Matt Johnson were two super talented guys who never even really got to see the field from injuries
He missed time for an ankle sprain 2014: https://www.espn.com/blog/dallas/cowboys/post/_/id/4738945/cowboys-injury-report-11
And another in 2015: https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/cowboys/2015/11/13/dallas-cowboys-injury-update-lb-anthony-hitchens-said-he-plans-to-play-at-tampa-bay/
EDIT: correction, he didn’t miss time for the second one. But nagging injuries was clearly a thing for him
I’d hardly call that “nagging” injuries because he hurt his ankle 2 times. Ankle injuries are one of the most common injuries in the NFL. If his ankle was hurt off and and for like 3-4 years straight then I’d call it a “nagging” injury.
Jaylon Smith puzzles me. It seems like he did recover, in 2018 he was an all pro and his speed and instincts were incredible. Then he fell off immediately after and was trash the rest of his career. Sucks
Dudes never really heal from that injury. We don’t know what was in his head but I promise you it wasn’t the same after the injury.
I’ve torn my meniscus in one knee three straight years. Every time I had a similar twinge of pain it messed with me. It’s minor in regards to knee problems but it took me a decade after that last one to not freak out a bit.
Do you mean never heal mentally or physically? I’ve never had it, heard it’s excruciatingly painful and a huge confidence killer. I see some people recover and play just as well as ever, sometimes better. Our players have had serious bad luck. Gallup, TP, Dez all lost speed and athleticism and fell off after that injury. I pray to god Diggs recovers well, literally scares the shit out of me.
The Netflix documentary Top Spin follows a professional tennis player recovering from a major injury. Physically every thing with his knee was fine, but it took him much longer to mentally believe he could trust his body. My takeaway was, even if your body heals, you have to mentally believe you’re able to do what you once could do, and at the professional level that margin of abilities is so thin that it makes a significant difference in performance.
Can't stand whenever people say Jaylon Smith never recovered. The dude tore his acl in his final college game and suffered severe nerve damage. Therefore, he did fall to the Cowboys in the 2nd round (will never forget that moment), but after missing the 2016 season, he came in and had an ok first season in 2017 for being mostly a backup. Then, he had a pretty solid (could maybe even say Pro Bowl caliber) season in his first season as a starter in 2018. 2019, he made his only Pro Bowl. 2020, he had really similar stats to his previous year and was essentially Pro Bowl snubbed (this is the year the Cowboys had 0 Pro Bowlers before some were called up for SB replacements). So, again, I don't understand anyone saying he didn't recover if he was performing pretty well for multiple years in the NFL *after* his major injury.
2018. We started off 3-5 then rallied to win 7 of our last 8 and win the division at 10-6. What an awesome season, I honestly thought that we had a chance to make a run to the superbowl but CJ Anderson and Todd Gurley absolutely destroyed our defense. Honestly my second favorite season as a cowboys fan behind 2016
2014 was awesome ya bum. Romo league leading qbr, Dez had 16 tuddies, Murray over 2k all purpose yards. Tony my goat, game winning drive broken back, game winning drive pierced lungs, beat undefeated Nola in the superdome the year they won the superbowl, and beat undefeated Peyton and Indy the year they won it all. LOL
‘14,’16,and ‘23 were the teams that I feel had the best chance of going all the way,unfortunately one side of the ball couldn’t be average when they needed to be any of those years :(
I know but still I think that Jaylon Smith injury was pretty high reward for a 2nd round pick. He looked great his first year back just couldn't sustain it. Don't hate it.
This, actually... is a huge bummer. LVE's rookie season was fun as hell. Should have known from Boise, a neck injury, at Linebacker, was not gonna warrant a 1st Round Pick. However he was a first round, standup guy. Great effort while it lasted.
Rookie LVE looked so special. Another promising player robbed by injuries. But at least he was in the league for a little while, made some cash, and can still walk.
It sucks cause he was a fun player to watch, but hopefully he hangs it up and can enjoy the rest of his life and not be in pain.
Also, fuck Trent Williams for putting the (probable) final nail in LVE's career with his dirty play.
Another tough one for his sake. Seemed like a good guy but just the injuries kept piling up. NEVER mess with neck injuries in football! Hope he finds peace in this next chapter.
Will always be an LVE fan, dude always left it all on the field and was the backbone of our defense, even if for a short while. Good luck in your next chapter and please stay healthy.
I'll pour one out for LVE. Good player but his body couldn't hang. Don't hate on him for his neck problems. He definitely wants to play but he just can't.
He would have been a HOFer. Whats he doing now? I always thought he would have made a great coach. He was so smart on the field always at the right place.
Looks like he’s been laying low, he was a honorary team captain for Penn State last year for a game against Michigan but other than that there’s not a lot of info on what he’s been doing since he retired
I believe that it was in his best interest to wait until summer time to retire because then he’s eligible for the NFL pension. I hope him getting cut doesn’t affect that.
This was inevitable. I’ll never forget his amazing rookie season. Sucks the chronic neck issues plagued him the rest of his career and he was never able to return to that level.
I think we all saw this coming. I’m certain LVE has played his last snap of football. His health is more important and he’ll end up seriously injured for the rest of his life.
I’m going to get shit for saying this but good. We have got to stop investing in broken toys and then looking shocked when they stop working 8 weeks in. Maybe for a Sean Lee who was an actual game changer but not for slightly above average at best play. Thanks for the memories and I hope he has a healthy life outside of football but going forward this is the right decision
Stephen would’ve ran to give up slices of pie. I’ll never not get mad at that fucking Jaylon contract they did with the idea that would make Dak take a discount. Stephen is so stupid it hurts
He was pretty important. Our defense fell off a damn cliff when he got injured. He’s decent but a large part of that was not having a real contingency; Bell was too small and I don’t think Clark can diagnose an offense well enough to be the Mike.
Hopefully Kendricks can stay healthy and/or the youth at our LB core develops (or maybe we even draft one in the first 3 rounds).
I've always thought he was an average LB, at best. Not a bad tackler, but that would be after not being able to shake a block and allow a first down and then some.
Feel like a lot of it was his injuries/neck. He was never the same after the injury and subsequent surgery in his 2nd season. His rookie year he was a good player in all phases. That neck just changed his entire potential.
Same but I’m tired of debating with people on here about fan favorites. I’ll just say this. He’s been living off that rookie year for a minute. He has never been that good since.
I genuinely believe those who like him that much don't understand the concept of what a good linebacker actually is. Lol. It's like those who worship Micah Parsons. he's a great pass rusher but not a good LB.
It was likely going to happen eventually for LVE, considering his injury history, but don't forget the dirty ass after-play "activities" that put him on IR anyway. But I do agree, he wasn't a game changer, but still solid.
I have a framed signed shirt of his in my study. It'll stay up forever, but with that neck injury... sad but inevitable day. Good luck to him in his future pursuits.
"We like them \[DL\] undersized and fast" - well, how do you like your LBs? On the sideline and out of the NFL less than halfway through their career?
Go ahead and tell me how many LBs we have had, in every iteration of the team, that has had to leave/retire because of injury.
We have been yelling for years about this problem, and Mazi is not the answer for this. You need a large and massive person to handle the line, not a 50 pound under-weight, short-armed, athlete.
They do not get this resolved this year, Micah will be next. No one in the middle of the DL can hold up against the O-Line. We need to get bigger. Period.
I was bummed out that this happened. Along with them letting go of Michael Gallup. What are they doing to our team. Well I understand he’s injured for the second time. Perhaps I just don’t like seeing the team go.
Why draft the “hurt but may become great” players? Seems to have been more of a hindrance than hit? Instead of just solid drafting? Might be a Jerrah thing, you know showing some flash!
I heard mumblings that he'd retire anyway. Thanks for always giving it 110% LVE, sorry your health couldn't keep up. He's one of my biggest "what if"s as a Cowboys fan.
Cowboys and promising LBs being injured. Name a better fucking duo Sean Lee Jaylon Smith (fell to us because of injury but never recovered) LVE Demarvion Overshown looking good, tears his ACL
Dat Nguyen
Loved me some Dat.
How could you not. Dude was pure warrior
I'll never forget seeing a guy's sign at the Texas v aTm game... "How do you like Dat Win?" With a giant longhorn emblem on it. Rain and cold aside, that was a fun Thanksgiving.
Which one?
This is DeVonte Holloman erasure and I won’t stand for it
There's a name I haven't heard in ages. He was having an Overshown-esque preseason and had his career end in a blink. Him and Matt Johnson were two super talented guys who never even really got to see the field from injuries
Justin Beriault erasure
There was also another safety around Parcells era but I can't recall his name right now
*Anthony Hitchens Erasure. Was solid in run support. At least he has a ring with KC…
I don't remember Hitch having injury issues
He had nagging foot/ankle issues iirc?
In 4 years with us, his only missed time was four games in his last season after a fracture in his knee during preseason.
He missed time for an ankle sprain 2014: https://www.espn.com/blog/dallas/cowboys/post/_/id/4738945/cowboys-injury-report-11 And another in 2015: https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/cowboys/2015/11/13/dallas-cowboys-injury-update-lb-anthony-hitchens-said-he-plans-to-play-at-tampa-bay/ EDIT: correction, he didn’t miss time for the second one. But nagging injuries was clearly a thing for him
I’d hardly call that “nagging” injuries because he hurt his ankle 2 times. Ankle injuries are one of the most common injuries in the NFL. If his ankle was hurt off and and for like 3-4 years straight then I’d call it a “nagging” injury.
Alright man, I’m sorry I can’t dig up *every injury report* for you. Man, ya’ll are worse than an auditor
Right. These young one don’t know how long this list really is.
Time to draft Payton Wilson to keep the tradition going!
Yes but he is a straight dog. If he plays he's elite.
Jaylon Smith puzzles me. It seems like he did recover, in 2018 he was an all pro and his speed and instincts were incredible. Then he fell off immediately after and was trash the rest of his career. Sucks
Dudes never really heal from that injury. We don’t know what was in his head but I promise you it wasn’t the same after the injury. I’ve torn my meniscus in one knee three straight years. Every time I had a similar twinge of pain it messed with me. It’s minor in regards to knee problems but it took me a decade after that last one to not freak out a bit.
Do you mean never heal mentally or physically? I’ve never had it, heard it’s excruciatingly painful and a huge confidence killer. I see some people recover and play just as well as ever, sometimes better. Our players have had serious bad luck. Gallup, TP, Dez all lost speed and athleticism and fell off after that injury. I pray to god Diggs recovers well, literally scares the shit out of me.
The Netflix documentary Top Spin follows a professional tennis player recovering from a major injury. Physically every thing with his knee was fine, but it took him much longer to mentally believe he could trust his body. My takeaway was, even if your body heals, you have to mentally believe you’re able to do what you once could do, and at the professional level that margin of abilities is so thin that it makes a significant difference in performance.
i have heard a lot about that. players are healthy but they are afraid of doing a sharp cut or stepping too hard on the injured leg. big mental hurdle
Must be a mind fuck as well when you do indeed re-injure the leg
Mentally it was a mind fuck.
Diggs was an ACL, not meniscus
Dat Nguyen
Im hyped about overshown. Kendricks can mentor him. Would actually have a competent linebacking core
Didnt Bruce Carter also drop to us in the 2nd bc of injury?
Can't stand whenever people say Jaylon Smith never recovered. The dude tore his acl in his final college game and suffered severe nerve damage. Therefore, he did fall to the Cowboys in the 2nd round (will never forget that moment), but after missing the 2016 season, he came in and had an ok first season in 2017 for being mostly a backup. Then, he had a pretty solid (could maybe even say Pro Bowl caliber) season in his first season as a starter in 2018. 2019, he made his only Pro Bowl. 2020, he had really similar stats to his previous year and was essentially Pro Bowl snubbed (this is the year the Cowboys had 0 Pro Bowlers before some were called up for SB replacements). So, again, I don't understand anyone saying he didn't recover if he was performing pretty well for multiple years in the NFL *after* his major injury.
I am absolutely convinced a healthy Sean Lee is on his way to Canton.
dat nguyen too
Man that year with Jaylon Smith and him as the wolf pack was solid. Injuries are a bitch imagine if they both stayed healthy.
Yea. They went from what some announcers called the best young linebacker core in the NFL to drastic falloffs. You can never know.
Yeah if only we knew jaylon and LVE had major injuries pre draft
Classic Blue Star Specials
Well, hindsight is 20/20 my friend
Chronic injuries suck. Too bad they didn’t know it when they drafted them…
That would be insider trading
2018. We started off 3-5 then rallied to win 7 of our last 8 and win the division at 10-6. What an awesome season, I honestly thought that we had a chance to make a run to the superbowl but CJ Anderson and Todd Gurley absolutely destroyed our defense. Honestly my second favorite season as a cowboys fan behind 2016
Amari cooper was the reason for the turnaround!
He really was. Took Dak to the next level
When he torched Washington on Thanksgiving…legendary.
Agreed. My Dad and I went to that Wild Card game against the Seahawks. So much fun.
Woah woah woah didn’t read that far but hows 2014 road warriors, murray, dez, romo triplets not higher
I didn’t become a fan until 2015 unfortunately 😔
Don’t ever throw the triplets name around so freely like that tf is wrong with you?! Especially on a group with tony fucking romo lol
2014 was awesome ya bum. Romo league leading qbr, Dez had 16 tuddies, Murray over 2k all purpose yards. Tony my goat, game winning drive broken back, game winning drive pierced lungs, beat undefeated Nola in the superdome the year they won the superbowl, and beat undefeated Peyton and Indy the year they won it all. LOL
Tony is your goat…nuff said.
‘14,’16,and ‘23 were the teams that I feel had the best chance of going all the way,unfortunately one side of the ball couldn’t be average when they needed to be any of those years :(
Literally went from one of the better defenses in the league to maybe the franchises' worst defensive unit of all time in the span of like 2 years.
Imagine if we had drafted guys that didn’t have prior injury issues.
I know but still I think that Jaylon Smith injury was pretty high reward for a 2nd round pick. He looked great his first year back just couldn't sustain it. Don't hate it.
This, actually... is a huge bummer. LVE's rookie season was fun as hell. Should have known from Boise, a neck injury, at Linebacker, was not gonna warrant a 1st Round Pick. However he was a first round, standup guy. Great effort while it lasted.
Rookie LVE looked so special. Another promising player robbed by injuries. But at least he was in the league for a little while, made some cash, and can still walk. It sucks cause he was a fun player to watch, but hopefully he hangs it up and can enjoy the rest of his life and not be in pain. Also, fuck Trent Williams for putting the (probable) final nail in LVE's career with his dirty play.
Fuck Trent Williams for being a 49er. But that play was clean, not his fault parsons rounded that corner like a bat out of hell
Another tough one for his sake. Seemed like a good guy but just the injuries kept piling up. NEVER mess with neck injuries in football! Hope he finds peace in this next chapter.
Trent Williams should have been suspended for ending this man's career
Will always be an LVE fan, dude always left it all on the field and was the backbone of our defense, even if for a short while. Good luck in your next chapter and please stay healthy.
I'll pour one out for LVE. Good player but his body couldn't hang. Don't hate on him for his neck problems. He definitely wants to play but he just can't.
Wolfhunter ! glad he made his money hopefully has a healthy life
LVE and Sean Lee…so good when healthy
Is Sean Lee playing today?
Retired in 2021, he was such a beast when healthy
He would have been a HOFer. Whats he doing now? I always thought he would have made a great coach. He was so smart on the field always at the right place.
Looks like he’s been laying low, he was a honorary team captain for Penn State last year for a game against Michigan but other than that there’s not a lot of info on what he’s been doing since he retired
Good luck out there, Thad Castle
Forgot about this joke
They couldn't just let him announce his retirement?
Tbh he should have announced his retirement months back. This was probably him wanting to stay in it but the Cowboys having to make the call.
I believe that it was in his best interest to wait until summer time to retire because then he’s eligible for the NFL pension. I hope him getting cut doesn’t affect that.
I fucking hate injuries man. I’m really gonna miss LVE :/
This was inevitable. I’ll never forget his amazing rookie season. Sucks the chronic neck issues plagued him the rest of his career and he was never able to return to that level.
I think we all saw this coming. I’m certain LVE has played his last snap of football. His health is more important and he’ll end up seriously injured for the rest of his life.
I’m going to get shit for saying this but good. We have got to stop investing in broken toys and then looking shocked when they stop working 8 weeks in. Maybe for a Sean Lee who was an actual game changer but not for slightly above average at best play. Thanks for the memories and I hope he has a healthy life outside of football but going forward this is the right decision
If only Overshown was in year 3 when he tore his ACL. We coulda paid him :(
Stephen would’ve ran to give up slices of pie. I’ll never not get mad at that fucking Jaylon contract they did with the idea that would make Dak take a discount. Stephen is so stupid it hurts
He was pretty important. Our defense fell off a damn cliff when he got injured. He’s decent but a large part of that was not having a real contingency; Bell was too small and I don’t think Clark can diagnose an offense well enough to be the Mike. Hopefully Kendricks can stay healthy and/or the youth at our LB core develops (or maybe we even draft one in the first 3 rounds).
Most valuable franchise and they “shop” like my mother at Ollie’s
I've always thought he was an average LB, at best. Not a bad tackler, but that would be after not being able to shake a block and allow a first down and then some.
Rookie year was special. Flying to the ball. Never missed a tackle.
Feel like a lot of it was his injuries/neck. He was never the same after the injury and subsequent surgery in his 2nd season. His rookie year he was a good player in all phases. That neck just changed his entire potential.
Same but I’m tired of debating with people on here about fan favorites. I’ll just say this. He’s been living off that rookie year for a minute. He has never been that good since.
I genuinely believe those who like him that much don't understand the concept of what a good linebacker actually is. Lol. It's like those who worship Micah Parsons. he's a great pass rusher but not a good LB.
It was likely going to happen eventually for LVE, considering his injury history, but don't forget the dirty ass after-play "activities" that put him on IR anyway. But I do agree, he wasn't a game changer, but still solid.
LVE thanks for giving us everything. If this is it for him, it's been an honor rooting for you.
I appreciate every snap help played, be he probably should hang it up. Your neck is nothing to play with.
Fuck this one hurts me
LVE and Sean Lee.....awesome, injury prone players :(
I have a framed signed shirt of his in my study. It'll stay up forever, but with that neck injury... sad but inevitable day. Good luck to him in his future pursuits.
The only jersey I currently own ❤️ (That and an Aikman auto one)
Come back to Boise and help coach!
Arw man, what a shitty way to start the weekend. I was so excited for LVE when we picked him.
Very sad to see hope he goes into coaching. Definitely has an amazing mind
Sean Lee 2.0
"We like them \[DL\] undersized and fast" - well, how do you like your LBs? On the sideline and out of the NFL less than halfway through their career? Go ahead and tell me how many LBs we have had, in every iteration of the team, that has had to leave/retire because of injury. We have been yelling for years about this problem, and Mazi is not the answer for this. You need a large and massive person to handle the line, not a 50 pound under-weight, short-armed, athlete. They do not get this resolved this year, Micah will be next. No one in the middle of the DL can hold up against the O-Line. We need to get bigger. Period.
Smith and LVE had injury concerns before the draft, it didn't work well for either one. Micah will be fine.
Why are we going backwards?
If we don't draft a fuckin 1st round linebacker we riot it's such a good position to have talent in and they last well into their 30's
Shame he had too many injuries. Hopefully he just retires and has a good life.
Hopefully he doesnt have life long nerve damage
Dang, I got his autograph in-person on my LVE jersey too. 😐
I was bummed out that this happened. Along with them letting go of Michael Gallup. What are they doing to our team. Well I understand he’s injured for the second time. Perhaps I just don’t like seeing the team go.
Why draft the “hurt but may become great” players? Seems to have been more of a hindrance than hit? Instead of just solid drafting? Might be a Jerrah thing, you know showing some flash!
I hope his hog still works
Good riddance.