IRVING – Ahmad Dixon hasn’t had the easiest road to the NFL. And since he’s arrived inside the Cowboys locker room, there have been even more bumpy times for the rookie safety from Baylor.
Dixon grew up on the east side of Waco. He said he bounced from house to apartment to even a hotel, with his parents making a lot of sacrifices to keep him, his two brothers, one half brother and two half sisters fed and clothed.
Dixon said his younger brother was “diagnosed with being mentally retarded” and his older brother “pretty much raised me because my parents worked so much.”
“We’ve been through a lot in life, living in different places, living with different people,” Dixon said. “I didn’t just have the easy way out of it.”
Now Dixon has a locker right next to Tony Romo, the Cowboys’ $100 million quarterback, and he's fulfilling his grandmother’s dream of playing for Dallas.
But even after reaching the NFL as a seventh-round pick in May, Dixon has discovered he still has a lot to learn. He said this preseason has been an eye-opening journey for him.
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett gushed about Dixon after he had a game-high 12 tackles in the preseason opener at San Diego on Aug. 7.
“He was a good example for a lot of the other guys as to what we’re looking for,” Garrett said, “and for him to do that in Week 1 of his rookie year, it was impressive.”
A week later, Dixon was late getting on the field for the final walkthrough practice of training camp in Oxnard, Calif., causing Garrett to wave him away once he arrived.
Garrett’s tone changed dramatically after the second preseason game against Baltimore on Aug. 16, when Dixon was told before kickoff he wouldn’t play.
“We had intentions of playing him, but you have to handle your business,” Garrett said. “You have to be somebody we can trust and hopefully he’ll learn from this experience.”
And then came Saturday night at Miami in the third preseason game. With the Dolphins trailing by one point with about two minutes to play, they faced a third-and-9 play from the Cowboys’ 17-yard line.
Dixon broke up a pass to the left side near the end zone intended for Dolphins receiver Matt Hazel. Dixon arrived after the ball had sailed past Hazel. Dixon lowered his helmet to drill Hazel as he was in the air. Dixon received a personal flag penalty for unnecessary roughness for a hit on a defenseless receiver that will likely lead to his first NFL fine.
“If I got to take a fine every week for me to play ball, I’ll do that,” a defiant Dixon said after the game, adding that he believed he didn’t do anything wrong.
On Monday, Dixon’s tune changed slightly. He said after watching the play, he realized he should have tried to make a play on the ball instead of going for the hit.
“It was just the heat of the moment, my instincts just kicked in,” Dixon said, “and I just did what I normally do and that’s just blow a guy."
Dixon built a reputation in college as a physical player who sometimes would target receivers with hard hits – at times toward their heads – as they entered his vicinity.
He wasn’t a favorite of opposing coaches, exemplified by TCU’s Gary Patterson erupting an a post-game news conference about Dixon, who was ejected in the Horned Frogs’ loss to Baylor last November for a targeting penalty for a hit on a TCU receiver.
Dixon said he was taught in high school and college to play the man first and then the ball. He said, because of the NFL’s strict rules against targeting a defenseless receiver, he’ll have to adjust his style while still remaining physical.
“In this league, you have to play the ball of how they’re cracking down on everything and all these penalties,” Dixon said. “Breaking a lot of habits. I wouldn’t even call them bad habits, but breaking a lot of habits that were formed over a lifetime period of playing ball.”
The Cowboys want Dixon to remain physical but play smarter. He’ll have to show he can do that to earn playing time on defense.
For now, the Cowboys see Dixon as more of a project who they expect to be a key contributor this season primarily on special teams.
“You would like his progression to be special teams, earn your stripes there, be reliable and make plays,” Cowboys secondary coach Jerome Henderson said, “until we develop him as a safety.”
When the Cowboys called Dixon in May to tell him they were drafting him, he was so overcome with emotion he could barely talk to owner Jerry Jones and Garrett.
Dixon said he became emotional because he’s had overcome so much to get to the NFL. He said he didn’t grow up with fancy clothes or a fancy car and never lived anywhere for long.
“There are some houses that I don’t even remember staying at. We stayed in some apartments about three or four months, and lived in a hotel, stayed with my grandmother,” Dixon said. “When we wanted to have friends over, my parents would be like, ‘Nah. You’re not allowed to have friends over because not only do you have a couch to sleep on where are your friends going to sleep at?’”
Dixon also had to overcome trouble at Baylor his senior season.
Dixon was arrested last September and charged with misdemeanor assault. According to police reports, a 21-year-old man told police that his cousin called him to a Waco apartment where Dixon and several others were playing video games. The man told police Dixon accused him of breaking into Dixon’s apartment. The victim denied it and then laughed, according to reports, at which point Dixon allegedly punched the man in the face and head several times.
In December, a McLennan County grand jury cleared Dixon of any wrongdoing.
Dixon said his recent obstacles of being tardy to a practice and his hit on a defenseless receiver in Miami “is small to me because I’ve dealt with so much.”
But Dixon admits that he’s had to grow up fast in his few weeks with the Cowboys.
“I think I handled it well. It’s just a matter of learning how to be a pro,” Dixon said. “Right now in this league if you can’t be trusted they won’t really fool with you. It opened my eyes up to a lot of things I just never really paid much attention to.
“It’s just different for me coming from college, where you’re the man. You have to come in and really humble yourself. It’s been a real humbling experience. It’s different, but I’ll get used to it.”
Dixon grew up on the east side of Waco. He said he bounced from house to apartment to even a hotel, with his parents making a lot of sacrifices to keep him, his two brothers, one half brother and two half sisters fed and clothed.
Dixon said his younger brother was “diagnosed with being mentally retarded” and his older brother “pretty much raised me because my parents worked so much.”
“We’ve been through a lot in life, living in different places, living with different people,” Dixon said. “I didn’t just have the easy way out of it.”
Now Dixon has a locker right next to Tony Romo, the Cowboys’ $100 million quarterback, and he's fulfilling his grandmother’s dream of playing for Dallas.
But even after reaching the NFL as a seventh-round pick in May, Dixon has discovered he still has a lot to learn. He said this preseason has been an eye-opening journey for him.
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett gushed about Dixon after he had a game-high 12 tackles in the preseason opener at San Diego on Aug. 7.
“He was a good example for a lot of the other guys as to what we’re looking for,” Garrett said, “and for him to do that in Week 1 of his rookie year, it was impressive.”
A week later, Dixon was late getting on the field for the final walkthrough practice of training camp in Oxnard, Calif., causing Garrett to wave him away once he arrived.
Garrett’s tone changed dramatically after the second preseason game against Baltimore on Aug. 16, when Dixon was told before kickoff he wouldn’t play.
“We had intentions of playing him, but you have to handle your business,” Garrett said. “You have to be somebody we can trust and hopefully he’ll learn from this experience.”
And then came Saturday night at Miami in the third preseason game. With the Dolphins trailing by one point with about two minutes to play, they faced a third-and-9 play from the Cowboys’ 17-yard line.
Dixon broke up a pass to the left side near the end zone intended for Dolphins receiver Matt Hazel. Dixon arrived after the ball had sailed past Hazel. Dixon lowered his helmet to drill Hazel as he was in the air. Dixon received a personal flag penalty for unnecessary roughness for a hit on a defenseless receiver that will likely lead to his first NFL fine.
“If I got to take a fine every week for me to play ball, I’ll do that,” a defiant Dixon said after the game, adding that he believed he didn’t do anything wrong.
On Monday, Dixon’s tune changed slightly. He said after watching the play, he realized he should have tried to make a play on the ball instead of going for the hit.
“It was just the heat of the moment, my instincts just kicked in,” Dixon said, “and I just did what I normally do and that’s just blow a guy."
Dixon built a reputation in college as a physical player who sometimes would target receivers with hard hits – at times toward their heads – as they entered his vicinity.
He wasn’t a favorite of opposing coaches, exemplified by TCU’s Gary Patterson erupting an a post-game news conference about Dixon, who was ejected in the Horned Frogs’ loss to Baylor last November for a targeting penalty for a hit on a TCU receiver.
Dixon said he was taught in high school and college to play the man first and then the ball. He said, because of the NFL’s strict rules against targeting a defenseless receiver, he’ll have to adjust his style while still remaining physical.
“In this league, you have to play the ball of how they’re cracking down on everything and all these penalties,” Dixon said. “Breaking a lot of habits. I wouldn’t even call them bad habits, but breaking a lot of habits that were formed over a lifetime period of playing ball.”
The Cowboys want Dixon to remain physical but play smarter. He’ll have to show he can do that to earn playing time on defense.
For now, the Cowboys see Dixon as more of a project who they expect to be a key contributor this season primarily on special teams.
“You would like his progression to be special teams, earn your stripes there, be reliable and make plays,” Cowboys secondary coach Jerome Henderson said, “until we develop him as a safety.”
When the Cowboys called Dixon in May to tell him they were drafting him, he was so overcome with emotion he could barely talk to owner Jerry Jones and Garrett.
Dixon said he became emotional because he’s had overcome so much to get to the NFL. He said he didn’t grow up with fancy clothes or a fancy car and never lived anywhere for long.
“There are some houses that I don’t even remember staying at. We stayed in some apartments about three or four months, and lived in a hotel, stayed with my grandmother,” Dixon said. “When we wanted to have friends over, my parents would be like, ‘Nah. You’re not allowed to have friends over because not only do you have a couch to sleep on where are your friends going to sleep at?’”
Dixon also had to overcome trouble at Baylor his senior season.
Dixon was arrested last September and charged with misdemeanor assault. According to police reports, a 21-year-old man told police that his cousin called him to a Waco apartment where Dixon and several others were playing video games. The man told police Dixon accused him of breaking into Dixon’s apartment. The victim denied it and then laughed, according to reports, at which point Dixon allegedly punched the man in the face and head several times.
In December, a McLennan County grand jury cleared Dixon of any wrongdoing.
Dixon said his recent obstacles of being tardy to a practice and his hit on a defenseless receiver in Miami “is small to me because I’ve dealt with so much.”
But Dixon admits that he’s had to grow up fast in his few weeks with the Cowboys.
“I think I handled it well. It’s just a matter of learning how to be a pro,” Dixon said. “Right now in this league if you can’t be trusted they won’t really fool with you. It opened my eyes up to a lot of things I just never really paid much attention to.
“It’s just different for me coming from college, where you’re the man. You have to come in and really humble yourself. It’s been a real humbling experience. It’s different, but I’ll get used to it.”
