Ezekiel Elliott's six-game suspension might be reduced in the near future, according to a new report from ESPN's Adam Schefter. Apparently, Elliott's legal team are trying to reach a settlement with the NFL out of court that will lower the number of the games that the Cowboys' running back would potentially have to sit out as the team enters into a grueling end-of-season stretch that could decide who wins the NFC East division. As of this writing, the Cowboys sit with a 4-3 record, which puts them second in the division behind the Philadelphia Eagles, who are 7-1.
“It's unclear how many games they have proposed to the NFL, but neither the league nor the NFLPA intends to settle this case and have Elliott's suspension reduced at this time,” Schefter said, citing sources who remained anonymous in his initial write-up. The NFL handed down the suspension on August 11th, which came after Elliott found himself in violation of the league's personal conduct policy stemming from domestic abuse allegations made by a former girlfriend. Police in Ohio who investigated these claims did not charge Elliott with any crimes. The running back has refuted those accusations more than once, leading to a judge in the Lone Star State granting a preliminary injunction on September 8th that allowed him to delay his impending suspension.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla had denied their request for a preliminary injunction, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed Elliott and his team an administrative stay on November 4th, which has lead to the current situation of closed-door bargaining between the player's lawyers and the NFL, who has dealt with its fair share of bad press this year.
Schefter had previously speculated Elliott this week because of the negative court ruling, however the administrative stay is what will allow him to suit up for today's game. Between Ray Rice's previous battle with the league over personal conduct issues and Tom Brady's infamous "Deflategate" incident, the real issue at hand seems to be the NFL's thought process behind handing out these arbitrary suspensions for varying lengths of time to offending players.