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The NFL has taken an exceptionally long time to decide whether or not Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott will be suspended to start the 2017 NFL season. While it was originally thought that the process was taking an extended amount of time due to Elliott’s domestic violence claims from last year, that apparently is not the case.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones joined the NBC crew during the Hall of Fame game between Dallas and the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday night. He was asked about Elliott and stated that there is no domestic violence issue at all for Elliott, but that there are other things being looked at by the NFL, per Will Brinson of CBS Sports.
“The domestic violence is not an issue. Zeke has had some other things that have been looked at.” – Jerry Jones. Hopes Elliott active Week 1
As USA TODAY pointed out, Elliott was never arrested or charged in the domestic violence case. So now the question becomes, what else is the league looking into Elliott for?
Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com explained a bit more of what the pending issues could be about when it comes to Elliott, which includes an incident from February 2016 and one from March of 2017.
The same woman called police on Elliott in Feb. 2016 in Florida, where the former Ohio State star was training for the NFL draft, alleging she suffered shoulder pain when Elliott pushed her up against a wall. In March 2017, Elliott was seen in videos and photos pulling down a woman’s shirt and exposing her breast on the roof of a Dallas bar during an early St. Patrick’s Day parade. And just this past Sunday night, Elliott’s name surfaced in media reports in connection with an assault allegation at a Dallas bar.
Rapoport and Pelissero point out that Elliott hasn’t been mentioned in the assault allegation at the Dallas bar, so it seems likely that the league may be focused more on the two other incidents. Or, maybe they’re simply attempting to find out more information about the incident at the bar, simply to verify that Elliott actually wasn’t involved.
As Kate Hairopoulos of The Dallas Morning News pointed out, Jones also said he believes the decision will be seen imminently.
Jerry: I would really hope (NFL decision) would be immediately. I think we’ll see it imminently.
Jones also continued by stating that the Cowboys are preparing for the team’s Week 1 matchup against the New York Giants as though Elliott is playing, also per Hairopoulos.
Time will tell, but it seems that there’s a strong chance that the decision from the NFL on Elliott should be coming down sooner than later. With the season nearly a month away, you’d have to expect that this would get figured out in the coming weeks, or possibly even the next few days.