Ray Rice Reinstated In The NFL

Ray Rice has won his appeal of indefinite suspension from the NFL via ESPN reports. The former Baltimore Ravens running back is now eligible to sign with any team in the league.

You may remember, Rice was suspended from the league indefinitely September 8th after a video of him hitting his then-fiancé in an Atlantic City casino elevator was publically released.

The U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones concluded that Rice did not lie, or attempt to mislead NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. In Jones' decision, she stated, “In so holding, I find that the NFLPA carried its burden of showing that Rice did not mislead the commissioner at the June 16th meeting, and therefore; the imposition of a second suspension based on the same incident and the same known facts about the incident was arbitrary.” She also stated, "Moreover, any failure on the part of the [NFL] to understand the level of violence was not due to Rice's description of the event, but to the inadequacy of words to convey the seriousness of domestic violence, [and] that the [NFL] did not realize the severity of the conduct without a visual record also speaks to their admitted failure in the past to sanction this type of conduct more severely."

Ozzie Newsome, the Ravens general manager, testified November 6th under oath that during Rice's June 16th disciplinary hearing he heard Rice tell Goodell that he had indeed hit his then-fiancé in the elevator.

One of Rice's former teammates Torrey Smith tweeted, “Second chances are only as good as you make them. My boy will do the right thing.”

The 27 year old running back is a three-time Pro Bowler. He helped Baltimore win Super Bowl XLVII. In his career with the Ravens he rushed for 6,180 yards and had 37 touchdowns.