The NFL placed Patriots captain and safety Jabrill Peppers on the commissioner’s exempt list after he was arrested on strangulation and cocaine possession charges following an altercation with his girlfriend in Braintree, Mass., on Saturday.
Peppers, who pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on Monday, may not practice or attend games while on the list.
“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,” first-year head 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.”
The commissioner’s exempt list is “a special player list available to clubs only in unusual circumstances,” per NFL rules. “The List includes those players who have been declared by the Commissioner [Roger Goodell] to be temporarily exempt from counting within the Active List limit.”
Only Goodell can remove players from the list and determine how long they are on it.
Peppers, who turned 29 on Friday, was arrested on multiple charges when police responded to a disturbance call at a residence at 4:15 a.m. Saturday involving an altercation between Peppers and his girlfriend, according to a police report.
In it, the caller said Peppers “hit her, choked her, took off her clothing and put her outside.”
The woman, who told police she and the former Giant were dating “on and off for a few years,” was treated for injuries to her face and knees at the scene.
Peppers, in his third season with the Patriots, was charged with assault and battery; assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; strangulation; and possession of a Class “B” substance believed to be cocaine, according to police.
Jabrill Peppers leaves Quincy District Court after appearing in front of a judge. While he stayed silent, his attorney said they have evidence that contradicts the victim’s story. @boston25 pic.twitter.com/unnnCqIAyi
— Ryan Breslin (@ryanjbreslin) October 7, 2024
Peppers pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in Quincy, Mass. District Court on Monday.
He posted $2,500 bail and was ordered to stay away from the woman.
Peppers’ attorney, Marc Brofsky, said in court the evidence in the case “sheds real doubt on the allegations, including videotaped evidence.”
Peppers has a hearing scheduled for Nov. 22, but he was allowed to waive his appearance.
“We are aware of an incident involving Jabrill Peppers over the weekend in which the police are currently investigating,” the Patriots said in a statement. “We will have no further comment at this time.”
Peppers missed Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins due to a shoulder injury.
The Patriots face the Texans at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough on Oct. 13.
Across four games this season, Peppers recorded 23 tackles, two passes defensed and an interception.
Peppers denied the woman’s claim that he pushed her down the stairs — and claimed the woman began acting erratic because he refused to have unprotected sex with her, according to court documents obtained by TMZ.
“According to Jabrill, [the woman] kept acting erratic and refused to leave,” police wrote. “According to Jabrill, [the woman] fell by herself on the stairs because she was intoxicated. He denied pushing her down the stairs, and he said that she was making those allegations to destroy his career.”
