Ezekiel Elliott is getting some advice on how to be a Dallas Cowboy from someone who struggled with it more than most.
Michael Irvin says the Cowboys running back needs to “understand the enormity of everything around him” and stay out of trouble after video came out of Elliott pulling down a woman’s shirt in front of a crowd on St. Patricks’s Day.
Irvin was asked about Elliott in an interview with Dallas radio station KRLD on Saturday and said the star running back still has some growing up to do.
Not to ever make an excuse for anybody, but he’s a young guy. And I don’t mind a guy having fun and all of that. But I need him to understand the enormity of everything surrounding him.
I know Ohio State is huge, but the Dallas Cowboys are something different. Everything you do, anything you do… that’s going to get out, that’s going to be a story. And you have to try to stay away from that. As I was watching it, I remember when I first saw it… I checked my calendar. Is this Mardi Gras?
Irvin said even though Elliott already knows better, he needs to be more careful or something could “come of it.”
“When you watch it, you can see the wheels turning in his head… don’t do it; don’t do it. But he does it,” Irvin said. “He just has to be careful, man. I’m glad that nothing has come of it as of yet.”
It’s a strange world we live in where Michael Irvin is giving out good advice about proper conduct for Dallas Cowboys players, but he’s right. Whether it was just some drunken St. Patrick’s Day fun or not, it’s a bad look for Elliott after the history with women he brought with him to the NFL.
Elliott is already the subject of an NFL investigation into whether he violated the league’s personal conduct policy.
He is not facing criminal charges for assault, but the NFL can suspend a player even without legal charges being filed. The investigation has been ongoing since an Ohio woman accused Elliott of assault in July in Columbus, Ohio. It was later revealed that the same woman also called police and accused the former Ohio State star of assault in February 2016 in Florida, where Elliott was preparing for the NFL draft.
Considering that incident is still unresolved with the NFL, Irvin is probably on to something when he’s a bit concerned about him exposing women. It’s also important to keep in mind that Irvin is no hater of Elliot, so his concern seems genuine.
Playing on an iconic team often brings with it a strange second level of authentication before you are truly considered a significant part of the franchise’s history. The Yankees have that “true Yankee” vibe that meant Alex Rodriguez didn’t have a place in fans’ hearts until he won a championship. What Irvin implies is that being a Cowboy offers a much larger stage for your actions, and with it a much larger opportunity to publicly do wrong.
This is more than just being “America’s Team,” and when you bring a shady history to Dallas and excel at that stage, Elliott definitely needs to expect camera phones rolling everywhere he goes. Irvin had his own struggles in a Cowboys uniform, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t right.
