Adrian Peterson Fights NFL Suspension with Appeal

— -- Adrian Peterson is fighting back against his indefinite suspension from the National Football League for disciplining his 4-year-old son by hitting the boy with a switch.

The Minnesota Vikings running back pleaded no contest to misdemeanor reckless assault last month and will face no jail time, but the NFL took a harder line when it came to his punishment.

The NFL suspended Peterson for the rest of this season, but Peterson is in New York to appeal the suspension.

Peterson's team is hoping that the NFL's decision to overturn their indefinite suspension against Ray Rice, the Baltimore Ravens star who was suspended indefinitely for hitting his wife in an elevator, is an indicator that Peterson has a chance of getting his decision reversed.

There are some major differences in the two cases, however.

The first is that Rice was given an initial punishment of a two game suspension and he had served that. The NFL later added a more drastic punishment of indefinite suspension pertaining to the same incident. An arbitrator threw out the second and more severe punishment by declaring it was a form of double jeopardy and Rice had not mislead the NFL with his initial statements about the incident.

That type of double jeopardy situation is not true in Peterson's case because his suspension was the first and only punishment he received from the league.

While Rice faced a former federal judge with no NFL affiliation, Peterson is making his appeal case to Judge Harold Henderson, a longtime counsel to the NFL.

Peterson’s camp believes he was given certain assurances about his punishment by a league official. USA Today reported that Peterson allegedly has taped conversations with an NFL executive who said that Peterson could only be suspended for two games.

The alleged conversation between Peterson and NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent could play a major role in the appeal hearing.

The appeal will be held behind closed-doors and it is unclear how long they will last.

Rice and Peterson are not the only star football players facing punishment for domestic assault incidents. Florida State University quarterback Jameis Winston's long-delayed code of conduct hearing is scheduled to begin today, almost two years after he allegedly sexually assaulted a female student.

Today's hearing comes as the season is winding down, though FSU will face Georgia Tech on Saturday and the team could also end up playing in a playoff game as well.

Winston has maintained his innocence and he was cleared of criminal charges earlier this year.