The news from ESPN that the NFL continues to investigate Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott isn’t really news; a recent report from USA Today made that clear.
The actual news from ESPN comes from the assessment by someone in Elliott’s camp, based on communications with the league, that the rookie is viewed as “Public Enemy No. 1" by the league.
The broader reality is, as Adam Schefter of ESPN explains, that the NFL realizes it needs to handle this one properly, given the mistakes made with Ray Rice and, more recently, Josh Brown. The initial one-game suspension imposed on Brown, finalized when the league knew that the police investigation was still open, adds a potential racial component to Elliott’s case, given that Brown is white.
As previously reported by PFT, many players are watching Elliott’s case with an eye toward the treatment of Brown before the final report from law enforcement forced the NFL to take more decisive action. This dynamic raises the stakes for the league office as it tries to determine what did and didn’t happen with Elliott, how to properly sift through sharply conflicting evidence under a reduced legal standard, and ultimately what if any punishment should be imposed.
