Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice is on the road to come back to the National Football League after a series of events that took place involving his wife Janay Palmer and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.  Back in early February of this year, Ray was in Atlantic City with Janay Palmer where a shocking video was captured of him striking Palmer in the face with his fist and knocking her out cold. When the elevator landed on the destination floor, a hotel staff member assisted Rice, thinking Palmer was intoxicated as Ray dragged Palmer off the elevator and on to the floor.

Rice and Palmer were both charged and released on February 15 for simple assault charges, as details of the altercation were not clear at the time. Four days later on February 19, TMZ released footage of Rice dragging Janay Palmer’s limp body out of the elevator, though at the time it was unsure what had happened in the elevator. Police verified they had the surveillance video of Rice knocking Palmer unconscious in the elevator, but it was not leaked to the public. Head coach John Harbaugh and general manager Ozzie Newsome defended Rice. They also iterated that Ray would remain the team’s running back for the upcoming season.

Baltimore Ravens Owner Steve Biscotti promised that Rice would be back on the team after his original two game suspension. He also had many good things to say about Rice when he stated,“He’s just been lauded as the nicest, hardest working, greatest guy on the team and in the community, so we have to support him. I think we’ll be rewarded by him maturing and never putting himself in a situation like that again. I’ve been on record of saying my definition of character is repeating offenses. If we’re all one strike and you’re out, then we’re all in trouble. It’s how you respond to adversity.”

On September 8, everything went downhill for Rice when TMZ leaked the video of Rice striking Janay Palmer on the elevator. The Baltimore Ravens released Rice from the team and terminated his contract. The decision was made because he had allegedly not been truthful and was dishonest with the team about the events that had transpired that night in the elevator in Atlantic City. The National Football League decided to suspended Rice indefinitely from the league.

After many sources confirmed that Rice was in fact truthful with the team and commissioner Roger Goodell, attention was now faced toward Goodell for his dishonesty about Rice and not seeing the video months prior to TMZ’s release. The Associated Press reported that a 12 second voicemail was confirmed to have been received by the NFL, and with a quick response they claimed they had never received a video from anyone.

On September 16, Rice filed an appeal for his indefinite suspension from the league which was held on November 5-6. General Manager Ozzie Newsome had testified that Rice had confessed all to commissioner Goodell which many believe was a key part to getting Rice back in the league.

On November 28, the NFL reinstated Rice back to the National Football League after three weeks of reviewing the appeal. As of December 1, he is able to sign with any team to make his return to the league.