The news that Judge Doty had overturned the arbitration ruling that led to Adrian Peterson’s suspension was met with much relief and rejoicing by Vikings fans who are ready to put the whole ridiculous thing behind them (not to mention some bloggers who are sick to death of slapping together posts about this crap).
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Unfortunately it doesn’t look like the thing is quite over.
Careful reading of Doty’s decision shows that his ruling does not automatically reinstate Peterson but merely kicks the case back to NFL arbitrator Harold Henderson, the guy who originally ruled against Peterson.
So this puts the ball back in the NFL’s court. Per Mike Garafolo, there are three options on the table for the league:
Looks like 3 options for NFL on Peterson: 1. arbitrate again, knowing Doty whacked its arguments; 2. appeal in court; 3. reinstate Peterson.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) February 26, 2015
Option one seems like a non-starter as the whole case against Peterson was already shot down once in court (the judge basically ruled that the NFL retroactively applied a new policy and they shouldn’t have been able to do that so suck it).
Option two seems more likely but only if the NFL wants all-out war with the NFLPA (who have already declared victory in this matter).
Option three seems the MOST likely given that Peterson was already likely to be reinstated in April and it’s hard to see why the league would bother attempting to re-suspend him just to un-re-suspend him in a matter of weeks.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This is the NFL we’re dealing with. God knows what they will actually do. For now, Peterson looks like he will soon be officially reinstated. And then the ball will be in the Vikings’ court.
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