Jerry Jones addresses Cowboys' potential interest in Shaquille Leonard amid rumors

The Dallas Cowboys have a need at linebacker following the season-ending injury to Leighton Vander Esch. That makes them a potential landing spot for the recently released Shaquille Leonard, and team owner Jerry Jones confirmed on Thursday that the Cowboys at least had a brief meeting about potentially adding him to their lineup.

He would not, however, indicate what level of interest the Cowboys actually have in signing him, via Pro Football Talk:

“We’ll see how we do with our evaluation and look at him pretty good,” Jones said. "[We’ll] look at some health things [with Leonard]. I know a lot of teams are looking at him, so I don’t want to give an indication of the degree of our interest with him.

“We’ll just evaluate that. I sure like the way overall we’re playing — our linebackers are playing. I won’t be commenting right now whether Leonard is a viable alternative for us or not.”

At his peak, Leonard was one of the top linebackers in the NFL and a star in the middle of the Colts defense. He was a first-team All-Pro during the 2018, 2020 and 2021 seasons and was consistently among one of the most dominant defensive players in the league when it came to creating splash plays (forced fumbles, sacks and interceptions).

While the first four years of his career was outstanding, he was limited to just three games a year ago due to injuries and had seen his role get slashed so far this season.

Even with the injury a year ago and the decrease in playing time the Colts' decision to waive him this past week still caught the league — and Leonard — by surprise. 

It does, however, give playoff contenders a chance to add a potential impact player for the stretch run of the regular season.

Starter Damone Clark had a strong showing in the Cowboys' 45-10 win over the Washington Commanders on Thursday, recording nine tackles.

The Philadelphia Eagles (losing Nakobe Dean) and Pittsburgh Steelers (losing Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander) could also be options for Leonard on the free-agent market. 

Dallas seems like a good fit given the absence of Vander Esch.