EZEKIEL Elliott will not feature for the Dallas Cowboys against the Atlanta Falcons.
The running back, 29, has not travelled to Atlanta and will be inactive this afternoon.
Elliott is fully healthy and his absence is not injury related.
Per ESPN’s Todd Archer, Elliott has been dropped for “disciplinary reasons”.
The Cowboys veteran has played in seven games so far this season.
In those games, he has 149 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
Discounting season finales, this is the first time in his career that he has been a healthy scratch for a game.
Running back Dalvin Cook is set to be with the main roster in Atlanta.
Cook, 29, began the season on the Cowboys’ practice squad – but was moved up last week.
He is set to join Rico Dowdle in the backfield.
Dowdle, 26, is back after missing last week’s 30-24 loss to the San Francisco 49ers with illness.
Elliott was taken by the Cowboys with the fourth pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.
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He spent seven seasons in Dallas during his first spell, before signing a one-year contract with the New England Patriots in August 2023.
Following a single year with the Patriots, Elliott returned to the Cowboys.
Mike McCarthy‘s team have started the season with a 3-4 record.
After news emerged of Elliott’s absence in Atlanta, former NFL star and Fox Sports analyst Emmanuel Acho was unimpressed.
He wrote on social media, “9 year NFL vet still getting disciplinary suspensions? Smh.”
The Cowboys have briefly addressed Elliott’s absence.
“The Cowboys will be without running back Ezekiel Elliott for Sunday’s game against the Falcons,” they confirmed in a statement.
“The team has decided he would not be active for the game and made the decision not to have him travel to Atlanta on Saturday.”
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott also addressed his team’s offensive struggles ahead of the game, saying, “For sure, I mean, just off the top of my head, I know I haven’t been running.
“Whether it’s been the scrambles or not, a couple of play calls that could potentially be that way, just haven’t had the read. Hell, I did it one time and it wasn’t the read so, in that sense, it just happens from within the pocket [during] in the game.”
