Ezekiel Elliott Granted Temporary Restraining Order

Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott has been granted a temporary restraining order from Texas court o Friday, according to Daniel Wallach.

This means that the NFL is barred from imposing his six-game suspension for the duration of the lawsuit.

The Court found, based upon the injunction standard, that Elliott was denied a fundamentally fair hearing.

“The question before the Court is merely whether Elliott received a fundamentally fair hearing before the arbitrator. The answer is he did not,” Mazzant wrote in his ruling. “The Court finds, based upon the injunction standard, that Elliott was denied a fundamentally fair hearing by Henderson’s refusal to allow Thompson and Goodell to testify at the arbitration hearing.”

Mazzant added: “the NFL’s breach of the [collective bargaining agreement] is only compounded by Henderson’s breach of the CBA. Specifically, Henderson denied access to certain procedural requirements, which were necessary to be able to present all relevant evidence at the hearing.”

Here’s a statement from the NFLPA regarding the news:

“Commissioner discipline will continue to be a distraction from our game for one reason: because NFL owners have refused to collectively bargain a fair and transparent process that exists in other sports,” the NFLPA said in a statement on Friday. “This ‘imposed’ system remains problematic for players and the game, but as the honest and honorable testimony of a few NFL employees recently revealed, it also demonstrates the continued lack of integrity within their own League office.”

Elliott could still end up serving the full six-game suspension at some point, but he may not begin doing so until next year.

Elliott is accused of five incidents of domestic violence that took place over over the course of a six-day period in July 2016.

Elliott, 21, was taken with the No. 4 overall pick by the Cowboys back in May. He signed four-year contract worth $24,956,342, which includes a signing bonus of $16,350,068.

Elliott stands to make base salaries of $1.58 million (2017), $2.71 million (2018), and $3.85 million (2019) over the remainder of the contract. The agreement also includes a fifth-year option for the team to consider in 2019.

In 2016, Elliott has appeared in 16 games for the Cowboys and rushed for 1,631  yards on 322 carries (5.1 YPC) to go along with 32 receptions for 363  yards receiving and 16 total touchdowns. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 2 running back out of 62 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding Elliott as the news is available.