Ezekiel Elliott Seems Shafted

As a general rule, the NFL league office and The Commissioner will make the absolutely unjust and unfounded decision in nine out of ten given opportunities. They’re the billionaire version of The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight. Fourth graders with a modicum of common sense could rule more justly. 

The NFL has more than its share of violent and abusive employees given the nature of the work, but Ezekiel Elliott seems to have been railroaded into a six game suspension based on legally unproven accusations of assault by an ex-girlfriend. 

The case against Elliott boils down to photos of a bruised Tiffany Thompson and her social media statements fingering Elliott. The police reviewed the evidence provided by Thompson and some of her friends and declined to bring any charges. The NFL conducted its own investigation and declared Elliott guilty by way of the six game suspension. That means missing games and about three million in lost contract wages. Not an insignificant number. Not if you’re not guilty.

Yahoo! Sports has a source that claims that the lead investigator in the NFL’s case, and the woman who interviewed Tiffany Thompson, penned a memo citing numerous inconsistencies in the statements made by Thompson. Also, some level of evidence suggesting a blackmail scheme had been discussed between Thompson and an associate. Though the beatdown and the blackmailing need not be mutually exclusive.

Lead NFL investigator, Kia Wright Roberts, recommended no punishment for Elliott based on the lack of reliable testimony. Roberts’ boss, Lisa Friel, the former sex crimes prosecutor, claims she took Roberts report into account during a meeting in which Friel and Commissioner Roger Goodell decided on the six game suspension for Elliott.

The NFL placed two women in charge of investigation players beating up their ladies. This was no random accident. In this case, the woman who did the leg work felt the allegations were shaky. And her boss who holds a more public position within the NFL decided to back a guilty verdict with Goodell. It certainly hints at a snow job. Elliott is awaiting a mediators decision on his league appeal before he likely files a lawsuit against the NFL under provisions of the players union CBA. 

Any reasonably long time NFL watcher understands that up until a few years ago, the NFL couldn’t give a shit what their players did off the field. Steroids, dizzy spins into comas by forty-five, baby mama beatdowns, drug running, gang affiliations, and semi-occasional shotgun deaths. Anything to put the best product on the field on Sundays. 24×7 Internet sports coverage and Ray Rice’s elevator punch changed a bunch of things. As in the case of all poorly and politically managed entities, the only solution to past wrongs is current wrongs in the opposite direction. 

Half the time an NFL player is accused of tormenting a woman, he’s tormenting a woman. Half the time she’s shaking him down for cash. It means each case has to be evaluated in great detail because the broad brush simply won’t work. Elliott seems to be the victim of the Goodell shaft. If the police say no-go and the lead investigator says no-go, the pressure’s on you to produce some evidence you’ve yet to produce. You’ve already got the Kaepernick contingent picketing outside your offices, what’s a few more women’s rights advocates trying cases in the media? 

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