Dallas running back Ezekiel Elliott found himself in hot water last summer when his former girlfriend alleged that he had assaulted her while the two were sitting in a car. Elliott denied those claims and ultimately the Cowboys' running back wasn't charged with the crime, but that doesn't mean the NFL has dropped the issue just yet.
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In fact, according to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter, a suspension in 2017 is still possible for Elliott, and that's because the NFL is still investigating last July's allegations.
Recently speaking on SiriusXM NFL, Schefter couldn't say anything definitely and he's hearing conflicting reports regarding what will actually happen, but he did at least confirm that this is still an issue that the NFL is looking at. Here's what he said, via Andrew Kulp of All22:
"I've spoken to people within the league who during the course of the offseason gave me a sense that something, some form of discipline could happen, and then I spoke to somebody last week and they're like, 'Yeah, I don't think anything is going to happen here,'" Schefter said. "And then the decision that many people thought would come right before the start of the July 4 weekend, on Friday, when the NFL usually makes a lot of decisions, hands down some news, I was told was being pushed back."
"Now why that's being pushed back - was it being pushed back actually, maybe it wasn't even - but I was told there wasn't going to be an answer here for a little while, that there was more information, that there had been more meetings between Zeke's people and the league, or the NFLPA and the league, or whoever. It's just been an ongoing issue that's had no conclusion, and ... it's hard to say, 'Well, nothing is going to happen there.' Nothing may well happen there, but something could happen there. We just don't know right now. It's just sort of out there."
Schefter's reporting can't make Dallas fans feel great, if only because it leads to a lot of uncertainty heading into a season where the Cowboys could legitimately make a run at the Super Bowl. Elliott is expected to be a huge part of that process, so even losing him for a short amount of time would be a tough football loss to swallow for Dallas.
With that said, the NFL as a league is finally starting to take allegations of domestic abuse seriously, and even though Elliott was cleared of all charges, he could still get in trouble with the league for breaking the conduct policy. Especially in the post-Ray Rice era, this is something the NFL has been cracking down on — and rightfully so — so it wouldn't be surprising at all to see the league hand down some kind of suspension despite the fact that Elliott wasn't charged and the alleged incident is now a year in the past.
Still, this wasn't the strongest of Schefter reports, so it's hard to tell how this will play out for Elliot and the Cowboys. "There's something there, but there may not be anything there," isn't necessarily the strongest info to work on, so right now it's safe to say that Elliott's fate in this matter is firmly up in the air.
