The NFL has declined to release its report on the Ezekiel Elliott investigation, but as with seemingly every report, leaks abound. Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports reports that it contains a series of texts between Elliott's accuser, Tiffany Thompson, and a friend in which they discuss the possibility of blackmailing Elliott with videos of Elliott and Thompson having sex. When it was suggested by her friend, Thompson responded "I want to bro."
The full exchange can be found below, per Robinson:
Thompson: What if I sold mine and Ezekiel's sex videos
Friend: We'd all be millionaires
Friend: We could black mail him w that
Thompson: I want to bro
Friend: Let's do it
Thompson: Scared
Friend: S---
Friend: Id be like look give me 10k or I'll just sell our sex videos for the same amount flat
Friend: Me and my friends tryna go on vacation and get boob jobs . . . .
Thompson: 10k Bitch I want 20k
Thompson: Go big or go home
Friend: That's fine too
This doesn't preclude the possibility that Elliott committed domestic violence. If someone goes through anyone's text messages, there's bound to be some dirty laundry. With that being said, this isn't the first report of Thompson making threats to derail Elliott's career. Thompson has said she will ruin Elliott's life various times in the past, including allegedly saying (per Elliott himself) "you are a black male athlete. I'm a white girl. They are not going to believe you."
Elliott filed to appeal his six-game suspension Tuesday, and his father says he has a legal team ready to take the case to court, if need be, to fight the suspension. The NFL noted that Elliott's offseason incidents did not factor into the suspension. Elliott said that he "strongly disagrees" with the suspension but he's "far from perfect," while sources have reported that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is beside himself, although he's remained quiet.
These text messages coming to light only create more headaches for the NFL, which spent more than a year investigating Thompson's claims that Elliott assaulted her. Things will likely get ugly in the near future, and if the Tom Brady suspension is any indicator, the battle could go on for a while.
