Former Cowboys linebacker Greg Ellis wasn’t bashful about speaking his mind during his time with the team. So it shouldn’t be surprising that he’s even more candid now that he’s no longer wearing the blue star on his hat.
During a Wednesday appearance on ESPN 103.3’s The Michael Irvin Show, Ellis claimed that one of his former teammate’s went to unusual lengths to give Ellis more playing time.
“It’s a disgrace when DeMarcus Ware comes off the field just so I can get in the game and when the coaches tell him to come on the field, he tries to hide so I can play,” Ellis said. “And you’re telling me we’re trying to win the Super Bowl?”
As Tim McMahon of the Dallas Morning News points out, however, Ware rarely missed a play last year before injuring a knee late in the Thanksgiving win over the Seahawks.
And Ellis seemed to acknowledge that Ware’s efforts to defer playing time to the 1998 first-rounder weren’t successful.
“He would say, ‘G, come on,’” Ellis said. “And I would tell him, ‘No, DeMarcus, go ahead, man. You’re coming up on your contract year. Don’t mess that stuff up. Go ahead and do you, and we’re just going to do what the coaches, or whoever the powers that be, what they want to do.’”
Moving forward, none of it matters. Ellis is gone, and Ware likely will be the long-term cornerstone of the team’s defense.
Depending on how things go in Oakland for Ellis, he might end up hiding from coaches in order to avoid playing time, but for reasons entirely unrelated to helping a teammate get some reps.