Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott isn’t being called out only by former football players from the college he attended. Elliott is now facing scrutiny from a former Cowboy.
“The guy’s just gotta stop being dumb, man,” former Cowboys defensive lineman Marcus Spears said recently on 103.3 FM in Dallas, via the Dallas Morning News. “That’s really what it boils down to. And I’m not going to speak on it like I know all of the particulars but I saw it and I don’t understand it. I was talking to my wife last night about it. With all of the social media, all of the media coverage that we give because we have to and we have to talk about these things, you would think that these guys would have in their minds and they would understand that I have things that I can’t do. And not as a football player but just as a human. At the end of the day, the eye of the world is on Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott because of the success that they had. They not only have the eye of the world but they play for the Dallas Cowboys, who are always in the eye of public.”
Spears, a first-round pick in 2005 who spent eight years with the team, raised a great point regarding whether the training players receive as they enter the league is working.
“When you see stuff like that, you just sit back and ask yourself what part of the message that the seminars and the speakers and the daily talks and the news coverage and the social media world doesn’t stick?” Spears said. “Because guys are still out here doing things that are crazy in my mind. So I hate to be judgmental but the most important thing for Zeke is to continue to mature. . . . [T]he decisions that they’re making at 21, 22 years old while they’re playing in the league, while everybody is kissing their butt and telling them how great they are will have a profound impact on them moving forward when they’re done playing football. Once you leave the field, people have a tendency to forget about you and all they do is remember the bad things.”
Spears’ advice for Elliott?
“I think Zeke just needs to lay low,” Spears said. “Have fun, man, have fun. He’s young. But do it in the right way and the respectable manner. At the end of the day no one can fault you for trying to enjoy the hard work and the labor that you put in to put yourself in this position. But you also have a responsibility to not only yourself but your family to take care of business the right way and not get involved in stupidity.”
That advice applies to all young NFL players, but specifically to Elliott. Even if he’s been told that the league won’t be taking action against him as a result of last year’s domestic violence accusations, there’s a perception problem enveloping Elliott, and the image of him pulling down a woman’s top won’t help improve that.