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The saga of Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott just continues to add one new twist after another. As we reported last week, Elliott has sued the NFL in an attempt to get his six-game suspension overturned. Which, in turn, as we also reported, could mean that Elliott will be eligible to play in week one and perhaps even much longer than that this season.
However, now the NFL has issued its response to the NFLPA and Elliott’s legal attempts to clear the running back in the form of two documents and they didn’t mince words laying the blame for this entire situation squarely at the feet of Elliott himself.
The first document asks the judge to reject the NFLPA’s request to throw out whatever punishment Elliott ends up receiving once the arbitration process is concluded. The NFL says that since the arbitrator hasn’t ruled yet the NFLPA is basically asking the court to “vacate a hypothetical award.” The NFL also calls it an “utter waste of judicial resources.”
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As for the second document, the NFL rips Elliott for creating this situation in the first place, reports TMZ…
In the 2nd document, also filed in federal court in Texas, the NFL is again essentially trying to block the imposition of the arbitrator’s ruling.
This time, the NFL fires back against Elliott’s claim that he has suffered “reputational harm” from the league’s investigation and punishment.
“To the extent Elliott has suffered reputational harm, that harm is due to his own actions, including the well-publicized actions that led [the accuser] to call the Columbus Police Dept.”
The league continued, “The NFLPA’s concerns about reputational harm ring especially hollow given the avalanche of publicity the NFLPA engendered by filing the damning details of Elliott’s misconduct on a public document.”
All that being said, it is still very possible that Elliott will be eligible to play in week one because if the arbitrator doesn’t make a ruling on Elliott’s case by Tuesday at 3pm Dallas time he can’t be suspended for the first week of the NFL season.
If Ezekiel Elliott is still on the roster by Tuesday at 3pm Dallas time, he will be eligible to play in the opener.
UPDATE:
📺 | @RapSheet https://t.co/dBF4X49jm0— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) September 3, 2017
If the arbitrator does rule that Elliott should be suspended he could then file a lawsuit, like Tom Brady did over Deflategate, which allowed Brady to play an entire season before eventually serving his suspension.