Monken’s Unenviable Position

In preparation for my piece on quarterback Clint Chelf in Monday’s paper, found here, I talked to Cowboys offensive coordinator Todd Monken about the difficult task it must be to tell a kid – in this case Chelf – that he’d lost a position battle, and a very public position battle at that.

Among toughest job duties, he ranked it just behind telling an NFL player he’d been cut.

“That’s the hardest part,” Monken said, “telling kids, when in their minds it may not be obvious. When it’s obvious, that’s easy, they get it. Around Brandon Weeden, no one came in and said, ‘Hey, do I get to compete?’”

Chelf, a fourth-year junior, had been Weeden’s backup. But with an open race held to replace Weeden in the spring, true freshman Wes Lunt won the job and redshirt freshman J.W. Walsh named No. 2, with Chelf No. 3 in what was a tight competition.

“Now you’ve got a freshman (Lunt) and you’ve got J.W. and you’ve got Clint,” Monken said. “And they’ve all had success in their lives. Yeah, that’s difficult to sit down with them…

“And to see their parents. Everybody wants their kids to be happy and smile. And they’re not happy when they’re not playing. That’s just the nature of how it goes. Unfortunately, that’s what we do.”