Dallas Cowboys NFL Trade and Roster Rumors: Lead NFL Investigator Recommended No Suspension for Ezekiel Elliott
Ezekiel Elliott has done a lot of questionable things since he was thrust into the national spotlight last season, but he's currently in trouble because of something he did before he played his first regular season game with the Dallas Cowboys.
The second-year running back's ex-girlfriend, Tiffany Thompson, had accused him of multiple counts of domestic violence in July 2016, and the National Football League (NFL) had been investigating the case for over a year before they reached a verdict last month.
A six-game suspension was handed down by the league, but Elliott filed an official appeal of the ruling. And after the hearing, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram revealed that NFL lead investigator Kia Roberts actually recommended the league not to suspend Elliott after she interviewed Thompson due to doubts about the alleged victim's credibility.
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However, the league never consulted Roberts, and her recommendation didn't make it into the final report. She wasn't even invited to the meeting to discuss Elliott's punishment. During the hearing, it was also revealed that that senior vice president for investigations Lisa Friel barred Roberts from attending the meeting.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Elliott and the NFL Players Association have filed a restraining order to block any suspension, and they also accused the league of orchestrating a conspiracy against the running back.
"Elliott and the Union were subjected to an arbitration process in which, among other things, there was a League-orchestrated conspiracy by senior NFL executives, including NFL Senior Vice President and Special Counsel for Investigations Lisa Friel, to hide critical information, which would completely exonerate Elliott," the filing stated, via Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
It didn't take long for the NFL to deny that there was a conspiracy against Elliott, and league spokesman Joe Lockhart also said that Roberts wasn't barred from the meeting.
Since the appeal hearing is over, arbitrator Harold Henderson will now have to decide whether to reduce or uphold the initial ruling. And he's going to be under a lot of pressure to make a decision by next week.
