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The ruling on Dallas Cowboys Ezekiel Elliott's appeal case was finally handed down on Tuesday evening as his six-game suspension was upheld.
However, Elliott will still have the opportunity to play in the season opener against the New York Giants, according to Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk.
In the first five minutes of the hearing, the NFL admitted it would not suspend Elliott in Week 1 even if arbiter Harold Henderson made his ruling this week, per a source. For years, the NFL has observed a weekly deadline when it comes to the implementation of suspensions. If the suspension isn’t finalized by 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, the suspension gets delayed until the next week.
The NFL began distancing itself from this past practice in the Ezekiel Elliott case, with NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero reporting Monday that there is no such rule. The league, though, admitted in court that Elliott would play this week, according to the source.
This simply came down to the suspension deadline being passed, which will allow for Elliott to at least play in the season opener before his six-game ban begins. There had been a growing belief that this would be the case after the decision being delayed until this week after the hearing last Friday.
Although Elliott will be able to play in the opener, he will still serve his suspension after the fact. There are those close to him that he should continue to fight it, but it's a huge uphill battle from this point on. Given how the league handled Tom Brady's four-game suspension last year, this doesn't bode well for the 22-year-old.
It may ultimately be something that is dragged out with Elliott trying to do whatever it takes to overturn the ruling. There should likely be much more to come concerning this manner following the season opener on Sunday night.
