The regular season opens with Packers running back Josh Jacobs on paid leave. He’ll remain there while the NFL determines his punishment under the Personal Conduct Policy after a recent no-contest plea to multiple misdemeanor charges, including battery.
As Ian Rapoport of NFL Network explained on Sunday morning, the NFL will be meeting with Jacobs; that’s always part of any review under the Personal Conduct Policy. Per Rapoport, the league also wants to see the video of the altercation, which was captured by a surveillance system in Jacobs’s home — and which was placed under seal by the judge presiding over his criminal case.
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Rapoport said the league is “trying all sorts of legal maneuvers” to get the video. No specific maneuver was mentioned.
The judge sealed the evidence in the case, including the video, at Jacobs’s request. The NFL could, if it wanted, tell Jacobs he won’t play until he asks for and receives a reversal of the order his lawyers sought.
Jacobs will receive credit for any games missed while on paid leave. But he won’t be playing until the internal review is completed, along with any appeal.
That puts pressure on Jacobs to give the NFL whatever it needs before it can make a decision. It also sets the stage for a negotiated suspension, which would become final once an agreement is reached.
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Six games is the baseline suspension for “domestic violence, dating violence, child abuse and other forms of family violence.” Aggravating factors can increase the punishment.
Given the league’s experiences with the Ray Rice case, it’s hard to envision the matter being finalized without the NFL first seeing the video. If a suspension is imposed and the video is later released, it could (depending on the video’s contents) creatie a major problem for the league, like the Rice video did in 2014.