The Dallas Cowboys need to cut the charade and just cut a pouting Ezekiel Elliott

Ezekiel Elliott needs someone in his circle to tell him he’s no longer Him, and to save, and savor, all of the NFL now.

Rather than celebrate, and relish, in the reality that an NFL team gave him a contract in the offseason the running back big-timed the Dallas Cowboys. The former Pro Bowler and former NFL running champ’ refuses to acknowledge the first word in those achievements: Former.

On Friday, the Cowboys informed the former All-Pro running back he was not going with the team to Atlanta to play the Falcons on Sunday. It was not for injury. The decision was based on the fact that Zeke has been late to meetings, or blowing them off.

It’s really based on the fact he gives their offense nothing.

Cut him.

The exercise of punishing a veteran who knows better has no upside. To retain “his services” is a waste of the Cowboys’, and Zeke’s, time. With the NFL’s trade deadline looming, and running back one of the biggest needs on a roster full of them, it would make more sense to trade a seventh round pick for stale Halloween candy, which is more useful to the Cowboys than Zeke.

Young Zeke could get away with a little tardiness. Young Zeke could get away with some disciplinary issues. Young Zeke could get away with a lot football-related sins. An NFL team will put up with a lot from a person who leads the NFL in rushing.

Old Zeke can’t get away with anything; a headache is not worth Zeke’s 3.1 yards per carry from a 29-year-old running back who acts like he’s 22 and averaging 5.1 yards per carry in pursuit of another rushing title.

Months before the Cowboys selected Zeke with the fourth overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, they knew there was a diva in there and that this relationship would have its moments. From serious off-the-field allegations to suspensions, to causing a major rift between Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, to a contract holdout, Zeke’s first run with the team was an amusement park ride.

It was “worth it” because he was a great player who did everything well. Catch. Run. Block.

Before the Cowboys cut him after the 2022 season, he finally sounded like an NFL player who “got it.” He sounded like a player who knew the game within the game. It’s the game that current Cleveland Browns quarterback Jameis Winston is winning.

If you are not going to be a productive player, be a great pro’. Show up on time. Care. Workout. Be a positive influence on younger players. Do not be a problem. Do this well enough and maybe you can score a six, or seven-figure, contract for another year or two.

That attitude allows some players, like Winston, to keep their careers afloat.

Zeke is pouting, only this time he has no leverage. The Cowboys don’t need him.

He’s mystified how the Cowboys are using him when his priority should be just doing everything necessary to keep this six-figure job that will end come January. He is at a point in his career where he should say, “I’m happy to be here, and I’ll do whatever they want me to do.”

The Zeke who is showing up late now is a product of a system that has rewarded him for his God-given athletic ability since he attended John Burroughs School in St. Louis. Since he attended Ohio State. Since the Cowboys made him the focal point of their offense under former head coach Jason Garrett.

The irony here is that Zeke is not a dumb guy. He was a young, coddled, enabled kid. Now he’s “NFL old,” and acting like a dumb kid around a team that is desperate for anything from his position.

It’s his job to see what’s going on; if he can’t help the Cowboys win a game he needs to do his best to win his own game. His game is just about over.

The Cowboys did him a favor by handing him a one-year, $3 million contract that few, if any, other organizations would have given him. He has returned the favor by returning to the type of behavior that got him in trouble a handful of times during his first run with the team.

The Cowboys gave this a look, and it didn’t work because he didn’t.

It didn’t work because no one in Zeke’s circle could tell him that he’s no longer Him, and to savor all of this now.