Dallas Cowboys News & Rumors

The Cowboys will have Ezekiel Elliott in uniform when they face the Cardinals on Monday night. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will not hold oral arguments until Monday, October 2, sports attorney Daniel Wallach has learned (Twitter link). 

The NFL was pressing the Fifth Circuit for an emergency stay in the Elliott case, essentially reversing a previous decision from a lower court. The league was hoping for a ruling sooner rather than later, but Roger Goodell & Co. will have to wait longer to see if/when they can enact the six-game suspension on the running back.

Had the league won the decision on Friday, a suspension for Monday night would have been in play. In theory, the league may have even suspended Elliott hours before kickoff with a legal victory during business hours on Monday. Now they won’t have the opportunity to bench Elliott until October, at least. At minimum, we’ll see Elliott on the field through Week 4 when the Cowboys face the Rams.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has yet to rule on the Ezekiel Elliott case, and that could be good news for the running back. The league has petitioned the court with urgent language to quickly deliver a ruling, but the judge is clearly not taking those directives to heart. That doesn’t mean that things will go Elliott’s way, per se, but it could be a prelude to an Elliott victory.

Here’s the latest on Elliott and his legal battle with the NFL:

• The league still won’t rule out suspending Elliott before Monday night’s game against the Cardinals if they win in court, a league spokesman tells PFT’s Michael David Smith. Today marks the last business day of the week, but if the ruling comes down before the lights shut off, commissioner Roger Goodell may put Elliott’s six-game suspension into effect immediately. In theory, if a ruling comes down on Monday, the league could enact the suspension before kickoff. If that’s the case, Elliott will be sidelined for games against the Cardinals, Rams, Packers, 49ers, Redskins, and Chiefs. He would not be eligible to return until Nov. 12 against the Falcons.

Before the start of the season, Ezekiel Elliott‘s legal team won a preliminary injunction against the league, allowing the running back to play while things get hashed out in the courts. The NFL moved for a stay of that injunction with the same judge, but they were denied, allowing Elliott to take the field again in Week 2. The league hasn’t stopped its fight, however, and they’ve advanced the battle to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

What does this all mean for Elliott’ status on Monday night against the Cardinals and beyond? Here’s the latest on Zeke:

• The NFL says that if a stay is granted on the Elliott suspension, and it came late in week, commissioner Roger Goodell would decide when the suspension starts, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com tweets. We have two-and-a-half business days to go in the week, but still there’s no guarantee that CA5 will reach a decision in that timeframe. If they do, it will be up to Goodell as to when the six-game ban begins. Given the protracted nature of this struggle between the league office and Elliott, it wouldn’t be surprising if Goodell moved to start the suspension right away if the stay is granted.
• The fact that the Fifth Circuit didn’t feel the need to rule on Tuesday is a good sign for Elliott, one source close to the situation (presumably, on Elliott’s side) tells Josina Anderson of ESPN.com (on Twitter). At minimum, it seems that the court is not taking the league’s urgent language to heart.