The NFL’s months-long investigation into Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott has yielded nothing, according to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
The league has not publicly explained anything about the investigation, which started with allegations that Elliott had a violent relationship with an ex-girlfriend. Elliott has never been arrested or charged, and Jones says there’s no reason he would face NFL discipline either.
“Absolutely nothing anywhere that indicates anything other than what they told us when we left training camp,” Jones said, via the Dallas Morning News, “and that is that they have no cause.”
Jones also said he would know if the NFL had found something.
“There is just nothing,” Jones said. “I know I would have heard about it. I would have the information if there were something. I know that.”
It’s surprising that Jones would say that, because if the NFL is conducting its investigations properly, then interested parties like the owner of a team whose player is being investigated shouldn’t be given any information until the investigation concludes. Jones seems to be suggesting that the NFL would have already told him, while the investigation is ongoing, if the investigation had yielded anything of concern about Elliott. If that’s the case, that suggests that the NFL’s investigations aren’t as independent as they should be.