Three NFL players — Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs, Denver Broncos linebacker Jonathon Cooper and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Terrion Arnold — have been placed on the league's Commissioner's Exempt List ahead of the 2026 season, a status only the commissioner can impose that will delay the start of their campaigns. The move follows a turbulent offseason of legal trouble across the league and comes as the NFL weighs discipline against several other high-profile players whose cases remain unresolved.

Jacobs was charged with battery and criminal damage to property after a domestic incident near his Green Bay home, and faces up to $20,000 in fines or 18 months in prison if convicted. Cooper was arrested in June for allegedly breaching a protection order tied to an earlier domestic violence case, while Arnold was arrested on kidnapping and armed robbery charges in June, prompting his release by the Detroit Lions before he joined the Seahawks. Other players facing scrutiny but not yet placed on the exempt list include Kansas City's Rashee Rice, jailed 30 days for a probation violation, the Rams' Puka Nacua, accused of biting a woman before entering rehab, and Baltimore's Rashod Bateman, facing domestic violence charges from a June incident.