The Dallas Cowboys have coddled former first-round pick Morris Claiborne to the point that he went AWOL on Tuesday after being told he wouldn't start against the New Orleans Saints. If he'd only stuck around long enough to look at the tape of the Rams game, maybe he would've understood.
This is a player who obviously expects special treatment because of where he was selected (sixth overall) in the draft. He expects it because the Cowboys have gone out of their way to insulate him from the reality of his shortcomings as a player. Why in the world would he be surprised to learn that Orlando Scandrick would return to the starting lineup?
Scandrick is the best playmaker in the secondary, and he did a nice job against the Rams on Sunday. Claiborne had a dreadful performance, but he did make the game-sealing interception. His comments after the Cowboys' come-from-behind win indicated he was not at all pleased with his performance. Finding out that he'd been benched in favor of Scandrick shouldn't have been a shock.
Every metric you can find (and the eye test) points to him being one of the worst cornerbacks in the league. Yet Claiborne thinks he deserves the benefit of the doubt because of his draft pedigree. Maybe it's time to admit the Cowboys whiffed on Claiborne just like they did with Bobby Carpenter during the Bill Parcells administration. But Carpenter kept his career alive for a couple years after departing the Cowboys, in part because he knew exactly where he stood. There was no hint of entitlement with him like what we're seeing from Claiborne.
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The Cowboys should tell Claiborne to take the rest of the week off and see if he feels like making amends next week. I keep hearing folks say that Dallas needs him on Sunday night against the Saints. No, it's Drew Brees who needs Claiborne on the field. Let the man be alone with his self-deluding thoughts for a few days. Let's refer to this as the Claiborne bye week. Unfortunately, I suspect that Jason Garrett and Jerry Jones will instead extend a helping hand and massage Claiborne's fragile ego.
"Is he what we hoped for at this point when we drafted him with the sixth overall pick, giving up the [second-round] pick to go up to the sixth pick to get him? No," said Jones on 105.3 The Fan several hours before Claiborne angrily left the Valley Ranch campus. "But he's going to be a good player."
That is the sort of blind optimism that gets Jerry in trouble. There's no evidence Claiborne is going to be a solid player in this league. Garrett spent the offseason talking about Claiborne's improvement. He even said something silly about how his facial expression was better. None of that matters when you're being singed by little-known Rams wide receivers.
The Cowboys can provide a path to redemption for Claiborne, but it should be paved with tough love like what they exhibited in benching him Tuesday. The funny thing is that Claiborne would still have played a large role against the Saints because of their three and four-receiver schemes. Claiborne has now made a nuisance of himself. He's coming off like a spoiled child when the Cowboys need all hands on deck.
I'm sure his teammates reached out to him Tuesday to coax him back to the facility. But I'd give the man the silent treatment he so richly deserves.
On the bright side, the last Cowboys player to go AWOL, Cole Beasley, turned out to be a very productive player. That's still a long-shot for Claiborne at this point.
