ARLINGTON, TX – DECEMBER 26: Ezekiel Elliott #21 of the Dallas Cowboys takes a knee in the end zone before the Cowboys play the Detroit Lions at AT&T Stadium on December 26, 2016 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
But the Elliott appeal of that decision is probably going to expose some of the most challenging aspects of the personal conduct policy. That is because the NFL decided not to tie its conduct policy wagon to the existing judicial system, which just happens to have established one of world’s best in defining crimes, due process procedures for fairness in investigations, mediations, and trials of civil and criminal matters. The NFL Commissioner is the judfe, not those trained to judge matters based on the rule of law.
The NFL is in the business of football, not law. When it decides to essentially create its own judicial system, with self-serving investigations, and then being a judge of those investigations, it is getting outside the lines of its expertise. As several federal courts and the NFLPA has repeatedly made clear to the NFL, it cannot avoid basic principles of due process and fairness to NFL players.
That brings us to why somebody is going to lose sleep over the Elliott appeal.
It is easy to find a conduct violation when there is video evidence of player transgressions. That was Ray Rice. But there is no Rice-like video that has surfaced against Elliott in this appeal. It is easy to find a violation when there is undisputed or overwhelming testimony all pointing to a player violation. Not so in this appeal. Instead, Elliott and the players union that represents him claim there is a text message from the alleged victim that she would get someone to lie against him as part of a diabolical scheme to "ruin his career".
Instead of one-sided testimony that supports the conclusion the NFL already drew, there may be testimony that destroys the credibility of the witness.
Worse yet for the combined prosecutor – judge – jury NFL is a City Attorney and staff that examined the potential witnesses, and decided not to pursue Elliott because of “conflicting and inconsistent" allegations against Elliott. They get paid to make those assessments. The NFL Commissioner and staff do not.
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After I recently castigated NFL and its owners for not having a clear policy on symbolic social messaging by its players, it is only fair that they also be commended for starting to use its relatively new personal conduct policy. There is the prospect of consistency in the standard. That is what much of its most loyal fan base want. Elliott received a 6-game suspension. That is consistent with the plain reading of the policy. It certainly beats an ad hoc arbitrary decision-making process or lack thereof.
ARLINGTON, TX – DECEMBER 26: Ezekiel Elliott #21 of the Dallas Cowboys takes a knee in the end zone before the Cowboys play the Detroit Lions at AT&T Stadium on December 26, 2016 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
But the Elliott appeal of that decision is probably going to expose some of the most challenging aspects of the personal conduct policy. That is because the NFL decided not to tie its conduct policy wagon to the existing judicial system, which just happens to have established one of world’s best in defining crimes, due process procedures for fairness in investigations, mediations, and trials of civil and criminal matters. The NFL Commissioner is the judfe, not those trained to judge matters based on the rule of law.
The NFL is in the business of football, not law. When it decides to essentially create its own judicial system, with self-serving investigations, and then being a judge of those investigations, it is getting outside the lines of its expertise. As several federal courts and the NFLPA has repeatedly made clear to the NFL, it cannot avoid basic principles of due process and fairness to NFL players.
That brings us to why somebody is going to lose sleep over the Elliott appeal.
It is easy to find a conduct violation when there is video evidence of player transgressions. That was Ray Rice. But there is no Rice-like video that has surfaced against Elliott in this appeal. It is easy to find a violation when there is undisputed or overwhelming testimony all pointing to a player violation. Not so in this appeal. Instead, Elliott and the players union that represents him claim there is a text message from the alleged victim that she would get someone to lie against him as part of a diabolical scheme to “ruin his career”.
Instead of one-sided testimony that supports the conclusion the NFL already drew, there may be testimony that destroys the credibility of the witness.
Worse yet for the combined prosecutor – judge – jury NFL is a City Attorney and staff that examined the potential witnesses, and decided not to pursue Elliott because of “conflicting and inconsistent” allegations against Elliott. They get paid to make those assessments. The NFL Commissioner and staff do not.