Cowboys reportedly release WR Michael Gallup, LB Leighton Vander Esch

The Dallas Cowboys are releasing wide receiver Michael Gallup and linebacker Leighton Vander Esch, per multiple reports.

Dallas is saving $9.5 million in salary cap space for next season by cutting Gallup, while the release of Vander Esch was expected after he missed most of the 2023 season with a neck injury that owner Jerry Jones described as a “longer term” health issue. Vander Esch was released with a failed physical designation, per ESPN.

Gallup spent six seasons with the Cowboys after getting selected in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft out of Colorado State. He had a career-high 1,107 receiving yards and six touchdowns in 2019, but his numbers dipped in the following years in large part due to injuries, including a torn ACL suffered in 2021. Still, Gallup signed a contract extension worth up to five years and $62.5 million ahead of the 2022 season.

Gallup totaled 3,744 receiving yards and 21 touchdown catches in his career with Dallas, which will likely look to the deep crop of wide receivers in the 2024 NFL Draft to supplement its pass-catching corps behind wideouts CeeDee Lamb and Brandin Cooks and tight ends Luke Schoonmaker and Jake Ferguson.

Vander Esch set the Cowboys rookie record with 140 total tackles and reached the Pro Bowl in 2018 after being the Cowboys’ first-round pick that year. However, he has only played a full season once since then and never surpassed 90 tackles in a season.

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