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Brandon Meriweather's appeal of his two game was supposed to be held yesterday according to Head Coach Jay Gruden. Today the decision was made public and his appeal was denied, which means Meriweather will not be able to have contact with the team until after Week 2. He will miss the season opener in Houston, and the home opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Meriweather will return to face the Eagles in Week 3.
Brandon Meriweather’s 2-game suspension upheld by appeals officer Ted Cottrell. Cottrell is jointly appointed by NFL & NFLPA
— Randall Liu (@RLiuNFL) August 30, 2014
Reports originally stated that Meriweather's suspension would begin on Monday, and the Redskins would have to keep him on the roster for today's 53-man cutdown deadline. Now the story has changed, and the Redskins will receive a roster exemption at today's 4 PM deadline. This means when his suspension is over, the Redskins will have to release a player to stay at the league limit of 53 players. It also means the team has room on the roster for some safeties that might have been cut otherwise.
Akeem Davis and Trenton Robinson will benefit from Meriweather's suspension and try to prove they are worth keeping on the team when he returns. Bacarri Rambo is set to take Meriweather's place at strong safety during the first two games, with Davis likely backing him up, and Robinson backing up free safety Ryan Clark. The other safety on the roster, Phillip Thomas, is reportedly being released. Thomas has been plagued with injuries since being drafted last year in the 4th round. He re-injured the same foot that sent him to IR after the first preseason game last year. Thomas could end up on the practice squad, but nothing is guaranteed at this point.
Source says Meriweather goes on reserve/suspended list at 4 p.m.
— Mike Jones (@MikeJonesWaPo) August 30, 2014
Meriweather will lose two game checks costing him $100,588 of his $855,00 base salary.
The two-game suspension is Meriweather's sixth punishment since league crackdown on helmet-to-helmet hits in 2010.
— Mike Jones (@MikeJonesWaPo) August 30, 2014