Clarence Hill: Kelvin Joseph thrives on Dallas Cowboys specials teams, disappoints humanity
It never ceases to amaze me how athletes who have no fear of running into players twice their size for the good of the team remain afraid of talking to media members who are half their size.
It’s become a tradition in sports, especially when athletes get into trouble away from the field.
Among the latest: Dallas Cowboys cornerback Kelvin Joseph.
The same Joseph who is under NFL investigation for being a passenger in a car during the drive-by shooting of Cameron Ray outside the OT Tavern in Dallas in March.
Joseph didn’t pull the trigger. His friends allegedly did.
Joseph also didn’t come forward to talk to police until he was outed in surveillance video released to the public to help find the killers and help the victims family get closure.
But the 22-year-old appeared on video inside the bar and also outside on March 18, including footage that appeared to show a group containing Joseph engaging in an altercation with a group containing Ray. Another video showed an SUV driving by Ray’s group, striking Ray with gun shots as he walked through a parking lot.
Those are the facts.
Joseph wasn’t charged. His friends were arrested and are awaiting trial.
Meanwhile, Joseph has been allowed to go about his business as a member of the Cowboys
And now he’s being celebrated as a breakout performer on special teams.
The 2021 second-round pick, who was a disappointment as a rookie for his lack of impact on the field as well as his professionalism, has a leading six tackles on special teams.
Yet, before last week, he had given zero interviews with the media.
None during offseason training activities (OTAs). None during minicamp.
None in training camp when every player on the team was available almost daily.
And none for the first seven weeks of the season.
Only when he was threatened to be reported to the NFL for not fulfilling his contractual media responsibilities, subjecting himself to a fine, did Joseph show up on a media conference call.
Not in person. A conference call.
And sticking to his trademark moniker, “you know the vibe.”
Joseph refused to answer any questions about the March incident.
He only wanted to talk about football.
If he had made himself available in camp, we could easily talk football now and espouse the glories of being a special teams demon.
If all was great with Joseph on the field, he would be considered an option to replace injured nickel back Jourdan Lewis in the starting lineup.
Instead that role is going to rookie fifth-round pick DeRon Bland, who has thrived and impressed on and off the field since he showed up last May.
But Joseph just wants to talk football.
About the ongoing NFL investigation, he said: “My team is handling the situation. I’m not going to really address anything on that topic today. I’m just going to focus on football.”
No decision will likely be made by the NFL until the case is closed by the police, allowing Joseph and the Cowboys to operate business as usual.
It remains a bad look for Joseph’s character and for the Cowboys, who have selfishly stuck by him because of his potential as a football player when there were many calls to release him.
“I’m a child of God,” Joseph said to reporters. “I’m a son. I’m a father to a son. I’m a leader. I’m a learner. I’m a smart kid, and I’m not a troublemaker or somebody who is just going to cause problems or do anything like that. I’m happy to be a pro, and I’m going to continue to treat myself as a pro and move as a pro.
“And I appreciate the Dallas Cowboys for taking a chance on me.”
What about the Ray family, friends and a mother who lost her son?
You got anything to say to them?
“No sir,” Joseph told reporters.
No remorse. No empathy. No humanity.
So disappointing.
Still.
