If anyone knows what former Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott is going through it’s newly-minted Pro Football Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware.
Like Elliott, Ware went from being a celebrity first-round pick of the Cowboys, star player and face of the franchise to the the ignominy of being cut by the only home he had ever known for salary cap reasons after in 2014.
Ware wasn’t surprised the Cowboys cut Elliott because of the way he was playing in 2022 and the emergence of Tony Pollard as the team’s best back.
Ware, who participated in the Invited Celebrity Golf Classic Presented by Choctaw Casinos & Resorts media day at Globe Life Field on Friday, said it was simply a business decision.
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“It just it is what it is,” Ware said. “But Zeke still has a lot in the tank. But you got to also think about the salary cap issues that I don’t know about. That was the best decision. It happened to me to where it got to a point where I was still playing well. I still had something in the tank. But you got to also think about the whole team in general. And so they made the right decision. And they’ll keep doing the same thing.”
Ware said being cut was tough on the ego but it’s a lesson about the business of the NFL.
Of course, the story didn’t there for Ware as he joined the Denver Broncos and won a Super Bowl title two years later.
He believes Elliott will find success in a new location.
But Dallas will always be home for Elliott as it is for him.
“It’s hard because when you play for a team as big as Dallas and that is America’s Team,” Ware said. “I got to play nine years in Dallas. I gave everything to Dallas. But as far the transition to another team, but you find out really fast that it’s a business. You got to take your business elsewhere, and keep it going. I did that in Denver.
“But I got to come back home. I’m still good friends with [Cowboys owner] Jerry [Jones]. I still do a lot of stuff for the Cowboys.”
Now, that he is headed to the Hall of Fame — enshrinement is set for Aug. 5 in Canton, Ohio — the only thing left for Ware with the Cowboys is to be inducted into the team’s Hall of Ring of Honor.
Ware participated in a friendly shot-making competition at the media day between Team Football (led by Ware and Hall of Fame WR Tim Brown) and Team Baseball (led by Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez and Roger Clemens) to raise money for the Momentous Institute, First Tee Greater Dallas and First Tee Fort Worth.
