Ruling allows Elliott to play
Dallas Cowboys star Ezekiel Elliott was granted another legal reprieve last night in the running back’s fight to avoid a six-game suspension for domestic violence allegations. A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order blocking the league’s suspension, clearing Elliott to play Sunday at San Francisco.
U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty’s ruling comes five days after a federal appeals court overturned a Texas court’s injunction that had kept Elliott on the field.
Crotty granted the request for a temporary restraining order pending a hearing before the presiding judge, Katherine Polk Failla, who is on vacation. He ordered the league to appear before Failla by Oct. 30 to argue why the suspension should not be blocked until courts in New York and Texas can rule on challenges the players’ union brought against the suspension.
“We are confident our arguments will prevail in court when they are taken up again later this month,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said.
Elliott, last year’s NFL rushing leader as a rookie, was barred from the team’s facility yesterday as players returned from their off week. The NFL placed him on the suspended list Friday, a day after the ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
The league didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Elliott was suspended in August by commissioner Roger Goodell after the league concluded a yearlong investigation that he had several physical confrontations in the summer of 2016 with Tiffany Thompson, his girlfriend at the time.
Prosecutors in Columbus, Ohio, decided not to pursue the case in the city where Elliott starred for Ohio State, citing conflicting evidence, but the NFL did its own investigation.
During a hearing earlier yesterday, Crotty said he was inclined to defer to Failla because she was more familiar with the case.
Attorney Daniel Nash, arguing for the NFL, accused Elliott’s legal team of seeking relief from courts in Texas to evade courts in New York and the effect of the April 2016 ruling that reinstated a four-game Deflategate suspension of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
Attorney Jeffrey Kessler, representing the players’ union, asked Crotty to prevent enforcement of the suspension for two weeks so that Failla can return from a vacation and rule.
Nash warned Crotty that allowing the union to continue to delay the suspension would invite “every player who’s suspended” to go to court for relief.
“They know under the Brady decision they have no chance of success. None,” Nash said.
Giants reinstate CB
The Giants have ended their suspension of veteran
cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie for insubordination.
Team officials announced Rodgers-Cromartie was reinstated to the active roster after missing the team’s game against Denver on Sunday night.
The team said RodgersCromartie met with coach Ben McAdoo yesterday morning, then was taken off of the reserve suspended by club list.
The 31-year-old veteran was suspended for leaving the team facility before practice last week. He also left the bench then returned in the second half of the Giants’ loss to the Chargers, a move that prompted McAdoo to make RodgersCromartie inactive for the Broncos game.
Rodgers-Cromartie is in his 10th season, with 26 tackles in five games this year with four starts.
Packers add QB
The Green Bay Packers signed rookie quarterback Jerod Evans to the practice squad after Aaron Rodgers suffered a broken right collarbone against the Minnesota Vikings.
The 6-foot-3, 232-pound Evans originally was signed as an undrafted rookie by the Philadelphia Eagles out of Virginia Tech on May 12 but was placed on injured reserve four days later and later released . . . .
The Buffalo Bills have restocked their injurythinned offense by signing receiver Deonte Thompson.
Thompson has five-plus seasons of NFL experience and had 11 catches for 125 yards and a touchdown with Chicago before being released by the Bears last week. Thompson played his first two seasons with Baltimore and then had no catches in playing one game for Buffalo in 2014.
Overall, he has 50 catches for 602 yards and three touchdowns in 42 games.
Falcons shuffle roster
The Falcons re-signed rookie running back Brian Hill to their practice squad.
Atlanta also signed defensive lineman Joey Ivie and quarterback Garrett Grayson to the practice squad.
Grayson, a third-round draft pick by New Orleans in 2015, was unable to establish himself as Drew Brees’ primary backup. Grayson was waived by the Saints on Sept. 2.
Hill, a fifth-round draft pick from Wyoming, was released last week when the team signed wide receiver Marvin Hall from the practice squad.
Kicker Mike Meyer was released from the practice squad and quarterback Trevor Knight was placed on the practice squad injured list . . . .
The San Francisco 49ers signed defensive linemen Leger Douzable and Tony McDaniel to one-year deals.
The 49ers placed defensive lineman Arik Armstead on injured reserve with a broken hand and released tight end Logan Paulsen to make room on the roster.
Douzable has played 107 games over the past eight years with 6.5 sacks, two passes defensed and one fumble recovery. He joined the Niners in August but was released on Sept. 3.