The appeal hearing for Adrian Peterson‘s suspension took place today in New York, and the session has since come to an end, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, who tweets that the Vikings running back gave a statement but didn’t testify.
As outlined by Tom Pelissero of USA Today and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, one of the key issues in play during the hearing was whether or not NFL executive Troy Vincent, who may have told Peterson he would be credited with “time served” during his stint on the exempt list, would be required to testify during the process. And according to Florio, arbitrator Harold Henderson did indeed decide that he wants to hear from Vincent later this week. Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports tweets that the hearing is expected to continue on Thursday, the day Vincent figures to testify.
While there’s a possibility Vincent will testify on Thursday and Henderson will eventually make a ruling one way or the other, the arbitrator would prefer the two sides to reach some sort of settlement, according to both Florio and Garafolo (Twitter link). Peterson’s current suspension calls for him to sit out the final several weeks of this season, and makes it possible for him to be reinstated starting in April.
As detailed at ESPN.com, Vincent allegedly told the Pro Bowl running back that agreeing to be placed on the exempt list would result in a two-game suspension once his legal case was resolved, assuming he attended a disciplinary hearing with commissioner Roger Goodell. However, Peterson didn’t attend that hearing, explaining later in a statement that the league refused to answer any questions about the involvement of outside experts in the meeting.
If the two sides reach a settlement, a resolution could come this week, but otherwise we may be waiting a little while for a decision from Henderson. Florio tweets that the deadline for a ruling is “as soon as practicable” once the hearing wraps up later this week, but as we’ve seen with past cases – such as Josh Gordon‘s appeal, which was also heard by Henderson – it can sometimes take weeks to resolve appeals, which greatly reduces the likelihood of Peterson getting back on the field this season.