Right or wrong, accurate or inaccurate, meritorious or frivolous, new Jets running back Dalvin Cook has a pending civil lawsuit against him alleging domestic violence. Those allegations could, in theory, trigger scrutiny from and discipline by the league.
For now, it’s unclear where it will all go. Cook has sued both his accuser and her lawyers for defamation — and he has had some preliminary success in court.
But the core allegations remain unresolved. The last tangible development came from the news that Cook attempted to settle with the accuser, a move that might have been aimed at getting her cooperation in the defamation claim against her lawyers.
Regardless, it’s all pending. And it could become an issue for Cook and the Jets during the 2023 season. The Jets presumably are banking on nothing happening between now and the end of the coming campaig, which could be Cook’s one and only year with the team.
Regardless, the Jets are getting not much pressure at all from a fan base that is currently euphoric over the possibility that the Jets will return to the Super Bowl for the first time in 55 years. With no criminal charges and no video and only one accuser and an aggressive argument by Cook that the allegations are false, it’s enough to get the court of public opinion to do something it rarely ever does — refrain from passing judgment.
