Michael Irvin wants Ezekiel Elliott to realize the mantle of responsibility that comes from being a star of the Dallas Cowboys.
“Not to ever make an excuse for anybody, but he’s a young guy,” Irvin said while appearing KRLD, via the Dallas Morning News. “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? 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. He just has to be careful, man.”
This something that certainly must be dawning on the running back at this time.
From his bosom-exposing escapade in Dallas at a parade to his late-night rap session with Meek Mill in Miami just days later, Elliott has been in the spotlight in a big way this spring. Making matters worse, one woman’s group made a public plea for Roger Goodell to suspend Elliott for “sexual assault.”
Whether what Elliott did was worthy of that kind of response isn’t up for this scribe to hand down judgement. What we know for certain is that certain media elements are going to be trailing Elliott wherever he goes from now until he’s no longer one of the biggest stars playing for the Cowboys.
And that calls for a certain amount of wisdom, which is something Irvin — a guy known back in the day for his off-field indiscretions — apparently is trying to pass on.