Ezekiel Elliott is going through some tough times, and after a breakout rookie season running the ball for possibly the most popular sports team in the world, every misstep is being magnified. While he's being investigated for domestic abuse claims, the Cowboy star was also reportedly involved in a bar fight and is also in the midst of an appeal for a 100 mph speeding ticket. Elliott has also been in the news for pulling down a woman's shirt and visiting a pot dispensary while the team was in Seattle.

Outside of the domestic abuse investigations and arguably the bar fight, all of this behavior could arguably be dismissed if they were isolated incidents. He's certainly had reasons for everything he's done, albeit rather flimsy ones. However, Elliott consistently finds himself in the news for the wrong reasons.

Why is this? According to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Elliott is simply adjusting to a new lifestyle.

"As you well know, because of his style and personality, it's like a rock star wherever he goes in terms of attention," Jones said. "Anybody that's experienced that knows that takes getting used to. You have to learn many aspects of that. Certainly Zeke is evolving and being subject to needing to learn how to deal with the media and social media the way it is today."

It's true that the media landscape has evolved to the point where players can't sneeze without a forum popping up on if they'll play Sunday due to their cold, but many players do manage to stay out of the news, or at least stay out of the news due to incidents with police. With the likelihood of an imminent suspension rising, one would think that Elliott would go out of his way to avoid these headlines

Elliott was one of the largest -- if not the single largest -- breakout stars in the NFL in 2016. What he's going through isn't dissimilar to what division rival Odell Beckham Jr. went through when he broke onto the scene his rookie season. Beckham Jr. is still having his attitude questioned constantly. Elliott, however, hasn't adjusted gracefully. At 21 years old, he has a lot of maturing to do. But the baggage of being a problem case can dog a player throughout his career, regardless of what he does after the problem years are over.

Elliott would do well to account for the optics of his actions, which Jones concedes.

"We want to continue [to] educate ourselves as to how behavior, how it can be portrayed," Jones said. "From the day I became involved with the NFL, I have had to continually address and learn what it's like to have your every word possibly played back to you in a very public way."