Don’t expect Ezekiel Elliott to take his six-game suspension lying down. According to a report, he’s willing to take his appeal through the courts system if need be.
I'm told #Cowboys Zeke Elliott is willing to take this whole suspension appeal through courts if he has to. This could drag out a long time.
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) August 11, 2017
The Dallas Cowboys running back has three days to file his appeal following the NFL handing down the six-game ban Friday, which he absolutely will do. As we saw with Tom Brady last year, however, he likely won’t get Roger Goodell to budge, especially in light of the NFL’s findings following its year-long investigation into domestic violence (more on that here).
One thing Elliott has going for him in this case, though, is that, unlike Robert Kraft, Jerry Jones is going to back Elliott through appeals court, if not all the way to the Supreme Court if he has to.
Consider this: Jones is reportedly livid with the NFL for instituting this six-game ban. More than that, Jones is reportedly going to be Elliott’s primary point man as he and the team proceeds to fight the NFL on this.
Obviously the big issue here is that the NFL is punishing Elliott for something he wasn’t charged with by police. Last summer, Elliott was cleared of any wrongdoing in the police’s investigation into the same domestic violence claims. Unlike the police investigation, the NFL says it has evidence that Elliott caused physical harm to his ex-girlfriend not once, but multiple times.
A legal battle is all but certain to take place here. He’s going to almost certainly “seek judicial intervention” (like Brady did last year) and could obtain “a preliminary injunction blocking the suspension until the case is resolved,” per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, who notes it’s quite possible Elliott could play the entire 2017 season as the legal process plays out.
In the case of Brady last year, he ultimately decided against escalating the legal process and eventually accepted his suspension. Based on what we’re hearing right out of the gate, it does not appear Elliott or Jones is willing to accept defeat in the same manner.