Patriots fans show true colors by bashing Ezekiel Elliott's weight at first practice

Dallas Cowboys fans got long-desired closure this week when Ezekiel Elliott inked a one-year contract with the New England Patriots.

The news ends month's worth of speculation about Elliott returning to the Cowboys on a team-friendly deal. Jerry Jones refused to shut the door on a Zeke reunion, but it's clear the owner was placating to the media because the team's actions suggested it never had concrete interest.

With Elliott staring a new chapter in his NFL career, he got a fresh haircut and changed his jersey number to No. 15 in a nod to his Ohio State days. In other words, Zeke will sport a completely different look in Foxborough relative to what Cowboys fans had grown accustomed to over the last five or so years.

While Elliott is (seemingly) making a complete break for his time in Dallas, familiar narratives have followed him to the northeast.

After footage surfaced of Elliott's first training camp practice with the Patriots, fans couldn't help themselves but poke fun at his weight.

Patriots fans complain about former Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott's weight at first practice

Elliott fell victim to the same criticism during his time with the Cowboys. Of course, real fans understand the two-time rushing champ was always in excellent playing shape, even if it appeared in full pads that he bulked up over the years.

While Elliott isn't as lean as he was a rookie, he's debunked the out-of-shape narrative by being an effective back throughout his career.

It wasn't until 2022 that Zeke no longer looked the part of a starting RB, and that was bound to happen given the sheer workload he shouldered in his first few years. He exceeded 300 carries in three of his first four seasons and would have done so in 2017 (his second year) had he not been suspended six games.

Even still, Elliott's weight or "playing shape" became a talking point almost every offseason, even though he regularly posted workout videos on social media leading up to training camp. That was the case this offseason during Elliott's free agency, and yet Patriots fans wasted no time complaining about his figure.

Another OL joke? Patriots fans can't be bothered to come up with their own punchline.

Nothing happened. He looks exactly the same as the last three-plus years.

This is maybe the least harmful of the mean-spirited comments and it's still demeaning. Again, though, why care about what the player can bring to a toothless offense when you can simply underline the fact that he doesn't look like Bo Jackson in his prime.

These "fans" obviously don't speak for the entirety of Patriots Nation and Elliott has likely become numb to this kind of criticism at this point in his career.

Nevertheless, it's still disheartening that he can't even jog out for his first Patriots practice without being subject to weight jokes.

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