Cowboys rookie RB Ezekiel Elliott won’t face domestic battery charges
By Nick Tylwalk
It’s a rare bit of good news for the Dallas Cowboys, but one they’ll gladly take.
The Dallas Cowboys have already had a rough start to their 2016 NFL season before it even got started, what with losing Tony Romo to injury. They also have a bit of a history with off the field problems, in case you hadn’t ever noticed.
That made it even more distressing than it already was when reports emerged about rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott and a potential domestic violence incident. They were somewhat nebulous from the start, but the type of allegations that the league and law enforcement had to take seriously.
Elliott denied those reports from the start, and his stance has been vindicated in the eyes of law enforcement. Deadspin was among the media outlets breaking the news today that no charges will be filed against Elliott by the prosecutor’s office in Columbus, Ohio, where alleged victim Tiffany Thompson filed her official complaint.
The reasoning given was the “conflicting and inconsistent information … regarding the sufficiency of the evidence to support the filing of criminal charges.” It was a conclusion reached after interviews with multiple witnesses.
Deadspin also noted that Elliott is not quite out of the woods yet, because the NFL continues its own internal investigation into the matter. The league doesn’t necessarily need criminal charges to discipline a player, though the lack thereof obviously would weigh heavily on its process, however murky it can sometimes be.
For now, the Cowboys can breathe a huge sigh of relief. Elliott was always expected to have a large role in the team’s offensive plans for 2016, but the former Ohio State star can undoubtedly expect even more touches — even with Alfred Morris and Darren McFadden around — in the wake of Romo’s absence and fellow rookie Dak Prescott’s ascension to the starting QB job.
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With the season just days away, the team has to be hoping Elliott stays in the news only for his on-field exploits, and not for being named in criminal complaints or his curiosity when picking places to visit. Here’s hoping.