A week ago, Commissioner Roger Goodell was poised to name a hearing officer to handle the Ray Rice appeal. Today, it still hasn’t happened.
Per a league source, the NFL and NFLPA currently are working together regarding the process.
The NFLPA and/or Rice could have pushed for a hearing to occur by September 30. That effort apparently won’t be made, in part because it’s not as if Rice would get another job if he were cleared to return in the near future.
It’s possible that the Rice appeal will be delayed until after the Robert Mueller investigation. Since the report will be made public, its findings and conclusions will be available to the NFLPA and Rice’s lawyer, Peter Ginsberg, to scrutinize in connection with the questioning of witnesses at the appeal hearing.