The Cowboys will be placing LB Leighton Vander Esch on IR for the neck injury that knocked him out in Week 5. He's expected to miss the next 4-6 weeks. We'll see Monday night just how Dallas plans to fill in for LVE. Damone Clark is an obvious candidate for more playing time. Micah Parsons has also been mentioned as a potential part of the plan, which would mean more snaps in a standup position off the D-line. S Markquese Bell also figures to see added playing time.

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Cowboys LB Leighton Vander Esch suffered a neck injury late in Sunday night's loss to the 49ers. X-rays at the stadium came back negative, according to Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News. Vander Esch will have an MRI Monday to assess the injury further. It's a particularly touchy situation because LVE has a history of neck issues dating back to college. We'll watch for more on his outlook for Week 6 and beyond.

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Cowboys S Donovan Wilson suffered an injury to his right leg in the fourth quarter of Sunday night's loss to the 49ers. Former NFL team doctor David Chao says there's "some hope by video the injury is not significant." We'll watch for the diagnosis. Wilson played a season-high 77% of Dallas snaps in his third game back from a calf injury before leaving. If he misses further time, Markquese Bell would get some extra snaps. Bell hasn't played more than 45% of defensive snaps in any game yet this year, though.

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Cowboys CB Trevon Diggs suffered an ACL tear in Thursday's practice and will miss the rest of the season. That leaves one of the top-performing defenses so far without its lead cover man. Fantasy wise, it's probably not a big deal at least for matchups with the Cardinals and Patriots the next two weeks. And we're not significantly downgrading the Dallas DST overall. But losing a top coverage player and big-play producer certainly dings the upside of the Cowboys defense.

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