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It’s been an, um, interesting offseason regarding David Irving’s position with the Dallas Cowboys.
We’re not talking about where he lines up, that’s a matter some still contest, instead it’s about his status. He was tendered, analyzed as a trade option by many, signed his tender, and had a very public fight where his Twitter account was hacked.
Irving was absent through OTAs and people began to wonder whether this was more of the same or whether David really was just trying to work on what he needed to work on. Humans are all different. We all have things going on, David Irving is certainly no exception.
Tuesday’s mini-camp saw Irving present, and he spoke to the media after practice... kind of. David offered up one statement before he was cut off by none other than DeMarcus Lawrence.
Cowboys DL David Irving had one statement for us: "It feels great to be back out there working with my boys. I had a lot of stuff going on in the offseason as you all know and I'm working through it the best that I can and put it behind me and focus on the season."
— Brandon George (@DMN_George) June 12, 2018
Cowboys DL David Irving was about to talk more to the media about his offseason until DeMarcus Lawrence yelled down to him from his locker that he could just do it Wednesday. That's when Irving had a quick statement about his return and said he'd talk more Wednesday.
— Brandon George (@DMN_George) June 12, 2018
It’s definitely encouraging to see that David Irving is seemingly moving on towards the 2018 season, but it’s also interesting to see DeMarcus Lawrence somewhat instructing him on when to talk to the media.
We love anything and everything we can get from players at any point, but the reality is that talking to people about what’s going on isn’t exactly fun for NFL players. David Irving is obviously a subject of great fascination these days with everything that’s happened with him over the offseason, it appears as if DeMarcus may have been looking out for him.
At first glance this may seem like nothing out of the ordinary and something not to be made a big deal of. we’re not proposing throwing DLaw a parade, but we should acknowledge that he is seemingly stepping up into more of a leadership role. This is something Jason Garrett clearly wants from him, and it’s a positive thing to see from someone who’s skills have already translated on the field start to take place off of it as well.
Garrett not quite down to name names but says Sean Lee, DeMarcus Lawrence, Tyrone Crawford, Jeff Heath, Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott are all leaders who lead in their own way.
— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) May 23, 2018
Sean Lee is the unquestioned leader of the Cowboys defense. Beyond The General, there isn’t much in terms of leadership or even in terms of seniority. Lawrence is the next man up and who he is as a player would somewhat trigger him to be a leader in the locker room. It looks like he’s looking out for his fellow defensive lineman in this particular case.
Good for David Irving. Good for DeMarcus Lawrence. Good stuff.