Report: Team Officials Expect Ravens To Release RB Ray Rice

Update:

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports has spoken to officials around the league who predict that the Ravens will release RB Ray Rice now that the video has surfaced of him punching his then-fiancé.

“Have to,” a source told Wetzel.

• Wetzel adds that he isn’t sure if any team would sign Rice to a contract after seeing the full video.
• Jason La Canfora points out that Article 46 of the CBA agreement limits the team’s ability to discipline a player after the league has already done so.

Article 46 reads: “Commish disciplinary action will preclude or supersede disciplinary action by any Club for the same act or conduct.”

Rice, 27, signed a five-year, $35 million contract that included $24 million guaranteed with the Ravens back in 2012.

Brian McFarland points out that releasing Rice would save the Ravens $3.529 million against their 2014 salary cap. This could be carried over into 2015 to help them offset the $9.5 million in dead money they would incur by releasing him.

The Ravens are set to reinstate Rice on Friday after he serves his two-game suspension, but it’s almost unimaginable that they would do so in light of this video being released. The league is in a double-jeopardy situation involving Rice given that punishment has already been handed down and it has gone through the court system, but it’s still hard to imagine him suiting up for Week 3’s game.

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

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Jason La Canfora reports that sources close to Ravens RB Ray Rice expect him to receive additional punishment from the NFL.

• La Canfora adds that given the league’s connections and overall power, people are now skeptical of the league’s stance that they had not seen the video.
• Pro Football Talk reports that the NFL could have gotten the video from Rice’s lawyer.

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Ian Rapoport reports that the NFL requested all information pertaining to the incident, but the video was not made available to them until today.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said that no one in the NFL office had seen the video until today, per Jeff Zrebiec.

“We requested from law enforcement and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator. That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today.”

• Jason La Canfora reports that Ravens officials had not seen the video of RB Ray Rice punching out his fiancé, but he had described his actions in detail to them.

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TMZ Sports published a video of Ravens RB Ray Rice punching out his then-fiancé Monday at an Atlantic City hotel casino elevator back in February.

The previous video just showed Rice dragging her completely unconscious body out of an elevator. However, this video shows Rice throwing a brutal punch that left her knocked out cold.

Rice is currently serving a two-game suspension and will be able to return to the team this Friday.

Pro Football Talk mentions that it would be shocking to see the NFL reopen the case against Rice. In the event that they didn’t see the video previously or Rice claimed that a punch was not thrown, they could take further action against the Ravens running back.