Ray Rice Wins Appeal, Free to Sign Anywhere

Former Ravens player Ray Rice has been reinstated after winning his appeal. Rice is now free to sign with any NFL team should any of them be interested.

As of Sept. 8 Rice had been suspended indefinitely following video evidence of the incident in an Atlantic City casino. The video showed his then fiancé Janay being hit by Rice in an elevator of the casino.

Bad news for Ravens fans is Rice will now be expected to keep approximately 10 million in guaranteed money when he signed his contract extension back in 2012. The former Raven is a three-time Pro Bowler and rushed for over 6,000 yards during his career with the team. It’s unclear whether any team will give Rice a chance to play even with the reinstatement.

Baltimore enters Sunday at 7-4 hosting a crucial game against San Diego. Its clear the Ravens have all but forgotten about Rice following the success Justin Forsett has had this season.

UPDATE: The NFLPA has released an official statement on the Rice ruling.

This decision is a victory for a disciplinary process that is fair and transparent. This union will always stand up and fight for the due process rights of our players. While we take no pleasure in seeing a decision that confirms what we have been saying about the Commissioner’s office acting arbitrarily, we hope that this will bring the NFL owners to the collective bargaining table to fix a broken process. It is clear that this decision should force the NFL to embrace neutral arbitration as part of a necessary due process in all cases. The players thank Judge Barbara Jones for her time and thoroughness in this matter.