Ezekiel Elliott’s suspension delayed after New York federal court grants NFLPA’s motion

Ezekiel Elliott’s six-game suspension has been delayed once again after a federal court in New York granted the players association’s motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) good for 14 days, at which point a judge will decide whether to grant a preliminary injunction.

The TRO will remain in effect until Oct. 30 or until the presiding judge, Katherine Polk Failla, hears the case. That means Elliott will suit up this week against the 49ers and will likely play in Week 8 against Washington.

U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty’s decision can be seen here:

The NFL is fresh off its latest legal victory, when the 5th Circuit Court granted the league a stay on the injunction that was keeping Elliott on the field. The panel of three judges at the 5th Circuit ruled in a split decision that the district court judge who issued the injunction didn’t have subject matter jurisdiction because the NFLPA filed its lawsuit before Elliott’s NFL appeal was done.

That stay meant that Elliott’s suspension would begin in Week 7, as soon as the Cowboys returned from a bye. The NFLPA filed a motion for an en banc hearing with the 5th District court. If granted, all of the judges with the 5th District will re-hear the NFL’s motion for a stay.

Why was Elliott suspended? Elliott was issued the six-game suspension after the NFL completed a year-long investigation into domestic violence allegations levied against Elliott by a former girlfriend in July 2016. Six games is the baseline for a first-time domestic violence offender in the NFL.

The NFLPA and Elliott immediately appealed with the league. The league’s arbitrator, Harold Henderson, upheld the suspension.

What’s next for Elliott? Elliott can keep playing, for now. Don’t expect the NFL to give this one up without a fight. The case law that results from this case stands to shape player discipline for the foreseeable future.

What happens next with the case? A temporary restraining order only stays in effect for 14 days, so something else has to happen soon.

The likeliest next step is for the NFLPA to file a motion for a temporary injunction. There would be an evidentiary hearing involving both sides before that can be granted, but this only took a few days when the NFLPA and Elliott went through this process with the district court in Texas.

If granted, the injunction would keep Elliott on the field until the court case is fully resolved. If that’s the case, the NFL will likely respond by asking for a stay on the injunction, just like it did the last time.

This is the same court that upheld Tom Brady’s suspension for Deflategate. In the court’s decision, they wrote:

“In their collective bargaining agreement, the players and the league mutually decided many years ago that the commissioner should investigate possible rule violations, should impose appropriate sanctions, and may preside at arbitrations challenging his discipline.”

However, it’s not apples to apples. Judge Crotty said in his ruling, via Pro Football Talk, that Deflategate “did not hold that courts cannot review arbitral decisions for fundamental fairness.” Crotty is the third judge so far to back the NFLPA on this point.

If the court sides with the NFL instead, Elliott’s suspension will be back on.