Ezekiel Elliott and the NFL are preparing for a legal battle, and the league is publicly acknowledging that it may take a while to sort out.
In a conference call on Wednesday, NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said Elliott will likely play Sunday and that it is “possible” the Dallas Cowboys star will not miss a game in 2017.
NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart says he doesn't expect any of the legal proceedings this week to affect Ezekiel Elliott's playing on Sunday.
— Jenny Vrentas (@JennyVrentas) September 13, 2017
As for Elliott playing the rest of '17 season, Lockhart said: "It is possible. But I don't know that I would go so far as to say likely."
— Jenny Vrentas (@JennyVrentas) September 13, 2017
As we mentioned before, Elliott’s case is essentially playing out the same way Tom Brady’s did with Deflategate. Brady was initially suspended for the first four games of the 2015 season, but his case dragged on so long that he ended up missing the first four games of 2016 after he eventually lost in court.
While we don’t know if the courts will rule in Elliott’s favor or not, there’s a good chance the case won’t be settled much faster than Brady’s was. The problem, of course, is that there’s a chance it could end up reaching a conclusion late in the season and even into the playoffs. If Elliott winds up being suspended then, that would be an even bigger issue for the Cowboys.
Elliott responded to his first victory against the NFL with an Instagram post, but he knows he is far from out of the woods. In the short-term, however, the Cowboys shouldn’t have to worry about replacing him.
