As the Cowboys get set to take on the Packers in today’s much-anticipated playoff matchup, more details have emerged on the league’s investigation into the assault allegations levied against Cowboys’ star running back Ezekiel Elliott by his ex-girlfriend. Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the NFL submitted follow-up questions to Elliott within the past month, and Elliott is still in the process of responding to those questions.
As Schefter writes, no resolution to this matter is expected before the end of the season. Any discipline that the league hands down would therefore impact Elliott’s 2017 campaign.
By now, of course, the story is a familiar one. Elliott’s ex-girlfriend, who has also been cooperating with the league’s investigation, has claimed that she was abused by Elliott on five separate occasions. Elliott was not arrested and did not face charges related to the alleged incidents, but that does not mean that he is exempt from league-imposed punishment.
We heard in November that the league viewed Elliott as “Public Enemy No. 1,” that it is attempting to be as thorough as possible as it looks into Elliott, and that it is determined to avoid the same type of mistakes it has made in past domestic violence incidents. In December, Tim Rohan of TheMMQB set forth the league’s new, time-consuming protocol for investigating these matters.
On the field, Elliott has been everything the Cowboys hoped he would be when they selected him with the fourth overall pick of this year’s draft. The former Buckeye had 322 carries for a whopping 1,631 yards (both league bests), and he added 32 catches for another 363 yards. He scored 15 touchdowns on the ground and one through the air. He and rookie quarterback Dak Prescott helped lift the Cowboys to the No. 1 seed in the NFC, and they have Dallas fans dreaming of a Troy Aikman–Emmitt Smith type of partnership.
If they find that he actually did assault his gf, then I hope they come down as hard on him as possible. Minimum 1 yr suspension or ban his ass. No slaps on the wrist for domestic violence
They shouldn’t find that he assaulted her since he was not charged by the law. If they know something that the judiciary system does not then there is a much bigger problem.
Not only that the league would have been concealing evidence from The Law. If that’s the case, the NFL should be on trial as well. But the bottom line is this, the woman has been found on multiple occasions to have fabricated information which is why the LEGAL System decided not to pursue this case. This isn’t Ray Rice.
The problem with all this is that the NFL has now become the judge, jury, prosecuted, police, the Church and the executer. How in the world do they plan to investigate and fairly/equally hand out judgement in every single accusation that comes along. How about letting the police and prosecutors do what they do and then hand out penalties AFTER the player has had DUE PROCESS. Not every case is going to have Ray Rice on video punching his girlfriend in the face. When there is, drop the hammer but ths is getting out of hand.
The problem with all this is the NFLPA bargained away all of those rights to Roger Godell. They foolishly negotiated that process away in exchange for something else and now piss and moan that Godell has the leeway to be judge, jury and executioner.
Or Joe Mixon lol!
Joe Mixon’s situation is nothing like Ray Rice’s
He’s gonna get suspended there’s no other way around it unfortunately. Here’s how I see it and I hate to bring up deflategate but, it was alleged Brady deflated footballs there was 0 hard proof of Brady texting or talking to anyone about deflating. Goodell only cares about image, (hence why Alison Smith is still suspended) he doesn’t care about the truth. Domestic violence doesn’t look good on the NFL at all and because of that Zeek will probably get a 4 game suspension. Not that this is a laughing matter but funny how the NFL views allegedly deflating footballs and domestic violence deserve the same punishment (Ray Rice suspension) We need a new commissioner, one that doesn’t have his mind made up before any evidence comes out, we deserve a fair commissioner
It’s a good thing our legal system doesn’t go off of the “because you are accused you are guilty” philosophy
either way this story ends it’s unfortunate. If he did not hit her and is punished, then blind accusations can come against anyone. If he did hit her and wasn’t punished in the past, then the “big man on campus” mentality got him off. The best case is that he didn’t hit her and doesn’t get punished, but it seems unlikely at this point.
Between this witch hunt, the weed policy, and deflategate, the NFL’s discipline system should not be trusted or considered viable at all. A total joke.
I know Jones and Kraft aren’t buddy buddies, but if something happens here, I think it’s time for the owners to get together and cut the fat…meaning the commissioner and anyone else that sees their false information as superior to THE TRUTH and what has been deemed by our league system as not worth the time or the tax payers money.
I don’t understand Goodell at all. AT ALL. You’ve blown off how many other cases, screwed up how many other judgements, and THIS is the hill you want to die on? To win at all costs? You have less evidence than other similar NFL abuse cases, his level of abuse (all domestic violence is still bad, obviously) is not at the level of some other NFL guys, but still this is the guy that you have to nail at all costs?
If he did it, he did it and I hope he faces the consequences he would deserve in that case. But why specifically him? What’s your beef Goodell?
I’ve been following this story since it started, and to me it seems that she is making all of this up to get at Elliot’s money
Amen…she was in it to make money and then she got dumped…the accusations didn’t start until they weren’t a thing
The problem is too many of these colleges get the players off the hook. The police dept looks the other way for the betterment of their local teams and boosters. Look at florida state and how much jameis rapesten got away with. The nfl shouldve investigated that one for sure.