Attorneys for Ezekiel Elliott 'extremely disappointed' with NFL decision

Earlier Friday, the NFL announced that it had decided to suspend Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott for the first six games of the season for violating the league’s policy on personal conduct.

While ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Dallas owner Jerry Jones is “furious” with the decision – when the Cowboys opened camp, Jones strongly asserted that “there’s not even an issue” when it came to Elliott and the domestic violence charge the NFL took over a year to investigate – but we’ve yet to hear from Jones, who is also the Cowboys’ general manager, since the decision came down.

But Elliott’s attorneys, Frank Salzano and Scott Rosenblum, have released a statement, and not surprisingly, it is highly critical of the NFL. It also confirms that Elliott will appeal the league’s decision.

“We just learned of the NFL’s decision to suspend Mr. Elliott for six games for allegedly engaging in ‘physical force’ against the accuser. Mr. Elliott and is team of representatives are extremely disappointed with the NFL’s decision,” the statement reads.

“Our offices have been engaged in this matter since last July and have worked hand in hand with the Columbus Prosecutor’s office as well as the NFL and with their respective investigations. Accordingly, we are fully aware of the full body of evidence that exists in connection with this matter.

“The NFL’s findings are replete with factual inaccuracies and erroneous conclusions and it ‘cherry picks’ so called evidence to support its conclusion while ignoring other critical evidence.

“For example, both the Columbus Prosecutor’s office as well as the NFL investigators expressly concluded and conveyed to our office (and others) that the accuser was lying about an alleged July 22, 2016 incident whereby she accused Mr. Elliott of pulling her out of her car and assaulting her. An allegation that was ultimately undermined by her own friend’s affidavit which stated that no such assault occurred. The affidavit also outlined the accuser’s plan to orchestrate a story to police in order to corroborate her false allegation of assault. In addition, the NFL’s own medical experts concluded that many of her injuries predated the week in question and likely occurred during a period of time when Mr. Elliott was not in contact with the accuser. During the upcoming weeks and through the appeal a slew of additional credible and controverting evidence will come to light.”

Elliott has three business days to officially appeal, and under Article 46 of the collective bargaining agreement, an appeal hearing must be held within 10 days of receipt of the notice of appeal.