As hearing officer Harold Henderson contemplates a ruling in the Adrian Peterson appeal and hopes that the NFL and NFL Players Association find a middle ground that will allow Henderson to avoid making a decision, it looks like the league office has leaked a little of its leverage.
If Henderson upholds the suspension, which initially was supposed to cover the final six games of the 2014 regular season, the suspension could still cover a total of six games.
Chris Mortensen of ESPN reports, citing unnamed league sources, that a decision this week by Henderson to affirm the suspension could result in Peterson missing the last three games of 2014 without pay -- and the first three games of 2015 without pay.
It feels like an effort to squeeze Peterson into accepting whatever the league is offering, possibly a suspension through the rest of the year with reinstatement after the season ends. But it would be an unfair outcome; Peterson already has missed 11 games and counting. He has missed three (as of today) since being suspended without pay. Although he’s still being paid on the double-secret probation Commissioner-Exempt list, why should he not get credit for the games missed while his appeal unfolded?
Of course, Peterson also should get credit for the time missed while his legal case was pending. Even though he was paid, it’s easy enough to go back and take game checks away from Peterson. For some reason, it’s too hard for the NFL to realize that.