Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander, a member of the NFL Players Association’s executive committee, is not pleased with the NFL’s statement accusing the union of smearing Ezekiel Elliott’s accuser.
“It’s really appalling,” Alexander said on PFT Live. “We’re about representing our players at the end of the day and making sure they’re getting a fair and just trial whenever they’re going through anything with management.”
Alexander said he is “not comfortable at all” with the NFL’s disciplinary system.
“Things are not fair or consistent. They’re really all over the place,” Alexander said. “You can have two players do the same exact thing and get two different punishments.”
And although Elliott has the right to appeal, that appeal will be heard by former NFL employee Harold Henderson, whom Alexander doesn’t trust to be neutral. Although Henderson is no longer an NFL employee, he’s routinely paid by the NFL to handle appeals cases, with 87 such cases from 2008 to 2014.
“He’s in house. He’s an NFL employee. And obviously he works for Roger Goodell and they’re going to talk about it and come out to the same decision. He’s just passing the buck who’s going to oversee the case. We feel the same whether it’s Roger or Mr. Henderson doing the hearing,” Alexander said.
Henderson is supposed to be neutral, but the union has no faith that he is -- and no faith in the process that got Elliott suspended.