NFL Notes: Dalvin Cook, St. Louis Relocation Lawsuit, Taunting

Dalvin Cook

• According to the Star Tribune, Sgt. 1st Class in the U.S. Army, Gracelyn Trimble, is pressing charges against Vikings RB Dalvin Cook, alleging he physically abused her and caused emotional distress from an incident in November of last year. 
• Trimble accuses Cook of giving her a concussion, scarring her, and damaging her emotional well-being: “Giving me a concussion, leaving a scar on my face and taking me through hell.”
• The Star Tribune reports that Trimble’s lawsuit accuses Cook of assault, battery, and false imprisonment. She is seeking unspecified monetary damages and held settlement discussions with Cook’s attorney, but no agreement was reached.
• Cook’s lawyer, David Valentini, responded to the accusations that Trimble later assaulted Cook and two house guests and thinks her lawsuit is extortion: “While Mr. Cook and Sgt. Trimble had a short-term relationship over several months, she became emotionally abusive, physically aggressive and confrontational, and repeatedly attempted to provoke Mr. Cook.” 
• According to the lawsuit, Trimble flew to Minnesota on November 19, 2020, in order to break up with Cook and retrieve her belongings, entered through the garage, and grabbed mace she stored in his home on the way in. 
• In the filing, Trimble claims Cook became angry when gathering her things, resulting in a physical altercation: “[Cook] grabbed her arm, and slung her whole body over the couch, slamming her face into the coffee table and causing her lower forehead and the bridge of her nose to bust open.”
• Trimble sprayed mace into her own eyes and went to shower, where she was allegedly assaulted again. After going into a bedroom, Trimble took Cook’s gun and called a friend. The running back then, the suit claims, beat her with a broomstick.  Cook took her to the airport the following day. 
• Although Trimble nor Cook filed a report about the incident, the lawsuit includes text messages from Cook admitting fault to an incident: “I know what I did can be rewind…If you wanna go to the police I’ll respect that I’ll take my punishment for what I did!”

• According to Valentini, Cook is countersuing that his client was the victim during the November 2020 incident and was defending himself after Trimble entered his home without consent, punched him, maced him, and then held him hostage with a firearm.

• Valentini mentions that Trimble was knocked to the ground by Cook when he tried to stop her from attacking one of his guests: “We are confident a full disclosure of the facts will show Mr. Cook did nothing wrong and any injury Sgt. Trimble may have sustained that evening was the result of Sgt. Trimble’s own unlawful conduct.”

St. Louis Relocation Lawsuit

• According to Front Office Sports’ A.J. Perez, Rams owner Stan Kroenke offered the city of St. Louis $100 million to settle their relocation lawsuit against him and the NFL. 
• The city declined and Perez adds other NFL owners have been underwhelmed with Kroenke’s efforts to settle what could be a very embarrassing situation for the league. 
• If a jury rules against the NFL, it could be responsible for $1 billion in damages. Kroenke has an indemnification agreement with the league that he signed as a part of the relocation agreement that makes him responsible for any costs from the lawsuit. He’s trying to get out of it but other owners believe it’s airtight, per Perez. 
• It’s been proposed that the NFL could offer St. Louis an expansion team but Perez talked to people who view that as unlikely at this time, as owners aren’t eager to split revenue further despite the potential for an expansion fee and lessening their financial obligations in a settlement. The math could change, though. 
• Perez adds some in the league are concerned about former Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, who is named in the lawsuit because he still owned the team at the time, and his testimony. Richardson was against Kroenke’s proposal at the time and told the St. Louis Dispatch the city’s stadium proposal fit the guidelines to keep the team. 

Taunting

Bears DE Cassius Marsh said he wasn’t intentionally taunting in Monday night’s game.

“I think that that one was just bad timing,” Marsh said, via Pro Football Talk. “I think it was pretty clear to everybody who saw it that I wasn’t taunting. I’ve been doing that celebration my whole career and it’s just sad to see stuff like that happen in a close game like that. It’s just rough, man.”

• Mark Maske reports that the league does not find Marsh’s accusation against referee Tony Corrente legitimate, where Marsch claims Corrente intentionally hip-checked him when moving toward Chicago’s sideline in an incident that was also caught on video.