It seems like forever ago that there was a very real chance Ezekiel Elliott would miss the first chunk of the season for the Dallas Cowboys. His suspension handed down for his alleged breach of the NFL conduct policy, never held, though, at least through five games.
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The NFL scored a win this past Thursday with the news that the 5th circuit court reinstated his suspension. The punishment, which was originally intended to be for the first six games of the 2017-18 season, is to take effect immediately, meaning that legalities aside, now that the suspension is reinstated Elliott is expected to miss Dallas' October 22nd game against the San Francisco 49ers and be out all the way until November 26th, a few days before the Cowboys play the Washington Redskins.
That is, of course, considering the fact that Elliott and his team can't continue to fight the suspension, thus continue to delay it. And with that being said, there has been a significant development in that matter. As Daniel Wallach recently reported, the NFL Players Association is petitioning for a rehearing of Elliott's case.
BREAKING: NFLPA will be filing a petition for rehearing with the Fifth Circuit in the Ezekiel Elliott case pic.twitter.com/DPwhfKKdbx
— . (@PrograsiveXPlus) October 13, 2017
Wallach went on to report that the NFLPA is seeking a full court review by the Fifth Circuit court. The NFLPA will also apparently be arguing that the court issued the mandate on Elliott's suspension way too early:
NFLPA says Fifth Circuit jumped gun in issuing mandate: pic.twitter.com/8TxjZohPoA
— . (@PrograsiveXPlus) October 13, 2017
At 2-3 and heading into a bye, this petition for a rehearing will likely by Elliott and the Cowboys some time, and that's great news for Dallas. This season has already been enough of a struggle for Dallas, and that's with both Dak Prescott and Elliott fully available.
If Elliott is to miss time, and considering Dallas' struggles so far this season, an already troublesome season could get even worse for the Cowboys.
The good news for Dallas is that the NFLPA seems to have a good argument on its hands, but we'll see.