CLEVELAND — Cleveland Browns rookie defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr. will begin the 2024 NFL regular season on the Commissioner's Exempt List following his arrest earlier this month for domestic violence, according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, a 3News partner.
A league's spokesperson told Cabot that Hall will be placed on the exempt list before the deadline for NFL rosters to be cut down to their final 53 players at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Any player on the exempt list does not count against the 53-man roster, but cannot participate in any team activities.
Since Hall's arrest on August 13, he has participated in all team activities, including preseason games against the Vikings and Seahawks, as the legal process has played out.
According to NFL rules, commissioner Roger Goodell has control over the exempt list and can authorize its use when a player is formally charged with:
- a felony offense; or,
- “a crime of violence, meaning that he is accused of having used physical force or a weapon to injure or threaten a person or animal, of having engaged in a sexual assault by force or against a person who was incapable of giving consent, or having engaged in other conduct that poses a genuine danger to the safety or well-being of another person. The formal charges may be in the form of an indictment by a grand jury, the filing of charges by a prosecutor, or an arraignment in a criminal court.”
Though the list is not a representative of a formal suspension, a player does not have to be convicted of a crime to be suspended. The NFL opened their own investigation into the incident after Hall's arrest and continues to "gather information and let the legal process play out."
Hall pleaded not guilty to the domestic violence charge in Avon Lake Municipal Court. Since Hall was arrested, his fiancée recanted an accusation originally she originally told police stating that Hall held a gun to her head during the incident that led to his arrest.
