The NFL placed New England Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers on the commissioner’s exempt list on Wednesday.
Peppers, a team captain, is not permitted to participate in practice or attend games while on the list.
Peppers pleaded not guilty Monday in Quincy District Court after he was arrested on multiple charges that include strangulation and drug possession, per police in Braintree, Mass. Multiple reports indicated the alleged victim is his girlfriend.
‘I just want to be clear — any act of domestic violence is unacceptable for us as a team, whether you’re a player, staff member. We’re wholeheartedly against any type of domestic violence. I know the organization’s position, which I fully support,’ Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said Wednesday.
‘With that being said, I do think that Jabrill has to continue to go through due process. We’ll see how that works out. The league has put him on the exempt list, and that will give us time to gather more information going forward. At this time, he is not in the building and we’ll talk about that at a later time. As a father of three daughters, I definitely understand the seriousness of the allegations and hopefully they’re not true.’
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Peppers did not appear in the Patriots’ 15-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, having already been ruled out due to a shoulder injury.
Peppers, who turned 29 last Friday, had started all four previous games and has 23 tackles, one interception and two passes defended.
In his eighth season, Peppers has 494 career tackles with 28 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, seven interceptions (one returned for a touchdown), five forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries in 97 games (83 starts).
The Cleveland Browns selected Peppers in the first round (25th overall) out of Michigan in the 2017 NFL Draft. He has played for the Browns (2017-18), New York Giants (2019-21) and Patriots.
Peppers signed a three-year, $24 million contract extension with New England on July 26.
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