Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said he hasn’t spoken to Ezekiel Elliott since Sunday when the star running back allegedly was involved in an altercation at a Dallas bar. Garrett would not elaborate on why he has yet to speak to Elliott, who will report to The Star with the rest of his teammates Friday for physicals.
Garrett said others in the organization have talked to Elliott, and owner Jerry Jones already confirmed he had talked to Elliott.
“I don’t want to make any comment on the situation,” Garrett said. “We’re still gathering information on what that whole situation was. Zeke’s someone we believe very strongly in as a person and as a football player, and we’re going to continue to believe in him and try to put a structure around him and all of our players to help them make great decisions and grow – grow on and off the field.”
Dallas Police are investigating an assault that left a DJ with a broken nose but have not arrested anyone and did not list Elliott as a suspect in their initial report.
Elliott has had other off-field incidents, including an ongoing NFL investigation into domestic violence allegations. Elliott was never arrested or charged in allegations made by an ex-girlfriend more than a year ago, but ESPN reported that Elliott was bracing for a short suspension from that case.
“I don’t want to speak to any specific incident, but there’s no question when something happens off the field, we have to address it, and we have to make sure that we’re on top of it, and we understand what happened and get all the information about what happened or what didn’t happen and address it accordingly,” Garrett said, “and hold ourselves and each other accountable to what the standards are. And we’ll continue to do that.”
Cornerback Nolan Carroll and linebacker Damien Wilson also face possible league discipline for recent arrests. Carroll was arrested on a DWI charge in May, and Wilson was arrested on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, accused of backing his truck into a woman and threatening a man with a rifle during a July 4 dispute with tailgaters.
“We’ve had some incidents here in the offseason that we’ve had to address,” Garrett said. “If we didn’t believe in the players who were involved in the incidents they wouldn’t be with our team. We believe in them. Doesn’t mean they’re infallible. People make mistakes. It’s our job to respond the right way, hold them accountable, hold themselves accountable. We’re still finding out about a couple incidents here the last couple of weeks and once we get that information we’ll respond accordingly. But the standards are high here. We believe we have the right kind of guys on our football team. We believe very strongly in the character of our football team, but again that doesn’t mean people aren’t going to make mistakes. It’s our job to respond the right way.”