The NFL may claim it has credible evidence that Ezekiel Elliott is guilty of domestic violence, but Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones still is not seeing it.
Jones, who was shocked by Elliott’s six-game suspension after he repeatedly said the league’s investigation had nothing to do with domestic violence, is not backing down from his comments. In his weekly appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas Tuesday, Jones first made it clear that he does not condone domestic violence.
“Every person that has any sense at all understands domestic violence,” Jones said, as transcribed by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “On the other hand, I’ve had a lot of experience in this area. For 10 years before I bought the Cowboys, I was head of Battered Women of Arkansas. And I’ve raised more money and been in more safe houses than more people that talk about it. And so it’s a terrible problem.”
After he was finished with his disclaimer, Jones said Elliott’s case is tricky because “you have no evidence here.”
“It’s a very complicated issue, and because you have no evidence here,” he added. “That’s all I want to say about it. But it creates quite a convoluted approach by Zeke’s representatives and by the league that I really hate that is the focus of all of our attention. I do. Even though others would say that the issue needs this kind of focus and you’re using the NFL for visibility.
“So, I have a very, very — I’d say I’ve got some real opinions here and we won’t talk about them here on the show. But we’ve got some work to do here as far as the league is concerned.”
Jones made confident statements about Elliott’s case on more than one occasion before the suspension, so you can understand why he is so stunned. Law enforcement did not believe there was enough evidence against Elliott to pursue a case, but the NFL reserves the right to conduct its own investigations and punish players accordingly.
It seems unlikely that Elliott’s suspension will be reduced or overturned given how strongly-worded the NFL’s decision was, but that may not stop the running back from playing in Week 1.
