Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott has had a quiet offseason, much to the team’s relief.
Elliott made several unsavory headlines since the Cowboys drafted him in the first round in 2016. He ended up serving a six-game suspension last season for alleged domestic violence.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was outspoken in his support of Elliott, insisting the punishment was unfair. Other NFL owners now are asking Jones to pay the legal fees the league incurred during Elliott’s appeal after the Cowboys’ general counsel issued an affidavit in support of Elliott, who was not arrested or charged.
Jones, who meets with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday, has doubled down, maintaining Elliott did nothing to warrant a suspension. At the same time, Jones said the punishment will serve as a guidepost for Elliott.
“He’s paid the most level of punishment that I’ve seen for what he did,” Jones said, via Kate Hairopoulos of the Dallas Morning News. “So he’s done that. That would make any of us cognizant of the fact that you have serious accountability for any situation that you get into.
”. . . And it’s costly, and it’s certainly cost him. It’s cost him. So he’s smart; he is smart. And so we should have every reason to believe that that will be a constant reminder when you’re making decisions. I think that’s the case.”