The legal battle between Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott and the NFL has engulfed the 2017 NFL season, forcing your average football fan to become a law dog as well. The NFLPA got good news recently when it found out that Elliott would get a second temporary restraining order -- the first one in Texas allowed him to play for five games, this one will allow him to play in Week 7 and Week 8 -- to keep him on the field.
It is only temporary though, and Elliott will be back in court on October 30 to determine his fate for the rest of the season. No one, and I mean no one, knows what direction the judge will go in this case. We do know this: Elliott is going to eventually serve his six-game suspension and this lawsuit makes everyone look bad.
Which leads us to the report on Wednesday night from David Moore of the Dallas Morning-News, in which Moore reports the two sides have talked settlement following the latest court victory for Elliott.
This should come as no surprise, primarily because lawyers are virtually required to talk settlement after one of these battles in court. Elliott's temporary victory changes the leverage here; the NFL will eventually get its pound of flesh in terms of having Zeke sit for six games. The CBA dictates it.
But it looks like there is a good chance for Elliott to keep playing for the full season, mainly because the New York court system appears inclined to agree that if Elliott misses games he will be irreparably harmed. Elliott can never get games he misses back, the NFL can get suspended games from him at any point in the future.
So there should be talks here. The two sides might be able to figure out a deal whereby Elliott could play Week 7 (it's too late for them to agree to something ahead of this game), sit out Week 8 and Week 9 and then the NFL wipes away the six-game suspension.
Essentially Elliott would agree to two games to avoid missing six games in the future. And the NFL would agree to give Elliott two games instead of six because it's tired of all the negative press and of everyone talking about the court system instead of the game on the field.
Two games is just a hypothetical, of course. It could be three or four, but it needs to be a number both sides can agree to live with. For Elliott, the two games might be worthwhile -- if he decides to press his luck, he could miss a big chunk of the second half the Cowboys season. They are coming out of their bye at 2-3 and will need him for the stretch run. Two games in hand is better than six in a bush, or something.
The guess here is that it won't happen, with Elliott perhaps concerned any suspension might be an admission of guilt. But his lawyers are certainly aware that this might not be a winnable case for the long haul.
Framing things the right way and taking a smaller L now might be a worthwhile endeavor for both sides of the case.
