Whether you love or hate the Dallas Cowboys, the case still stands: the NFL has no idea what they are doing.
The league announced on Friday, August 8th, that Ezekiel Elliott would be facing a 6-game suspension for… well nothing really. Zeke has been in the news recently for having an issue with hitting people, whether it being his ex-girlfriend or a DJ at a club. However, both of those cases were dropped when police realized that Elliott was not involved in either.
There were text messages from Elliott’s ex-girlfriend to another friend of his stating that she wanted her to lie to the police, and say Zeke threw her from the car. When Elliott’s friend came to the police and told them the truth, the police dropped the case, stating that there was no involvement on Elliott’s behalf. As if that wasn’t enough, Ezekiel Elliott also released texts from his girlfriend stating that she was going to ruin his chances in the NFL, all because he broke up with her. Considering how crazy she turned out to be, it looks like the right move.
Now on the other case, there was no proof that Elliott ever hit the DJ in a club in early July, rather that someone who looked like Elliott was having an altercation with the DJ. Surprisingly enough, the police report did not mention Elliott’s name, and the investigation was ended later in the week.
You tell me, does this sound like Elliott had anything to do with either? A crazy ex-girlfriend and a sketchy eye-witness in a dark setting. There is 0 factual information backing up that Elliott was involved in either, let alone if he was guilty. Rather than take this into consideration, listen to what the police said, and use his head, Roger God-Dell struck the star running back with a suspension. This action sent Twitter ablaze, whether it was upset Cowboys fans, happy Eagles or Giants fans, or confused fans of other teams.
It seems to me that no one in the league has any idea what’s happening. A star running back bringing in the NFL millions of dollars of merchandise and from performance being punished for something that never happened. Seems bizarre.
On top of all of this, the NFL has told Elliott and the Cowboys that if he has one more slip-up, he has a chance of being banished from the NFL permanently. Here’s a list of people who either “allegedly” or actually did commit crimes, and didn’t receive this treatment:
Ray Rice
Ray Lewis
Josh Brown
Michael Vick
OJ Simpson
Evidently it’s not enough to slap him on the wrist and say “Listen son, I’m not sure what you’re doing, but cut it out.” Rather, they must cut out his playing time with little to no explanation. This has led to a report that Jerry Jones is “furious” with the league, and to Elliott’s agent calling the findings “replete with factual inaccuracies and erroneous conclusions.” Elliott himself released a statement on Twitter, stating he is “surprised and disappointed by the NFL’s decision.” Yeah, me too Zeke.
Elliott will have 72 hours from the time the suspension became official to appeal the findings, and a hearing will then be scheduled withing the following ten days.