Stephen Jones attempted to not give an answer Tuesday when asked about Cowboys linebacker Leighton Vander Esch. But the few words used by the team’s chief operating officer may have actually spoken volumes about the star’s latest neck injury and what it might mean for his football future.

Vander Esch, 28, played in the first five games of the 2023 season before a collision with teammate Micah Parsons forced him out. He was placed on injured reserve on Oct. 16, with an initial prognosis offering hope he would miss just four to six weeks. A month later, the team confirmed their first-round draft pick from 2018 would be sidelined for the rest of the year.

Vander Esch and the team have not offered any official updates since midseason, but Jones’s answer when asked for a status report at this week’s scouting combine in Indianapolis didn’t sound encouraging.

“Leighton will speak to that,” Jones said Tuesday, despite otherwise talking freely about the rehab efforts of Trevon Diggs and DeMarvion Overshown. “Certainly an injury issue with him that he’s getting his hands around. Let him speak to that.”

Vander Esch has dealt with neck issues since his college days at Boise State. He missed a big chunk of the 2019 season before undergoing surgery in hopes of correcting the issue, a condition called cervical spinal stenosis. The spinal fusion procedure came with the understanding that another neck surgery would likely jeopardize his football career.

He sustained a neck stinger in 2022, but was able to return after four games. This latest injury, suffered in the team’s loss to San Francisco, appeared significant.

There’s been no announcement from Vander Esch or the team, but even a simple reading between the lines of Jones’s non-answer leads one to believe that Cowboys fans may have, sadly, seen the last of The Wolf Hunter.