An expedited appeal hearing has resulted in an even more expedited outcome.
The NFL has announced that Ted Cottrell has reduced the two-game suspension imposed earlier this week on Redskins safety Brandon Meriweather to one game.
Meriweather will lose one of 17 game checks. At a base salary of $1.2 million for 2013, that’s lost earnings of $70,588.
Cottrell, jointly hired and paid by the NFL and the NFLPA, had final say on the matter. Meriweather will miss Sunday’s game against the Broncos, and he’ll be able to rejoin the team on Monday, in advance of the Week Nine game against the Chargers.
Meriweather was fined $42,000 in September for applying an illegal hit to Packers running back Eddie Lacy. Meriweather illegally hit both Bears receiver Alshon Jeffrey and Bears receiver Brandon Marshall in the head/neck area during Sunday’s game between the two teams.
It’s the third straight time in a case involving a suspension that the NFL’s decision was not fully enforced. Last year, Cottrell scuttled a one-game suspension given to former Ravens safety Ed Reed. Last month, Matt Birk overturned a one-game suspension levied against Buccaneers safety Dashon Goldson.