The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has scheduled oral argument in the Tom Brady case for March 3.

The Brady case eventually could end in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Whoever loses before the Second Circuit will have appeal rights. However, the Supreme Court first must agree to accept an appeal before resolving it.

Kwon Alexander is facing a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing drugs.

Alexander is in his rookie season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after he was a fourth round selection.

Alexander ranks second on the Buccaneers this season in tackles.

Alexander will still play in Sunday's game against the Philadelphia Eagles because the suspension isn't expected to be handed down until Monday.

Aldon Smith has received a one-year suspension by the NFL for his role in an incident on Aug. 6th.

Smith pleaded not guilty in September to hit-and-run, drunken driving and vandalism.

Smith was subsequently waived and then signed by the Oakland Raiders. Smith was second on the Raiders with 3.5 sacks this season.

Smith has 47.5 sacks in 59 regular-season NFL games.

Greg Hardy made a statement that he was innocent until proven guilty and is a victim of discrimination by changing his Twitter profile for a brief time Wednesday morning.

"Innocent until proven guilty-lack of knowledge & information is just ignorance-the unjust/prejudicial treatment of diff categories of people is discrimination," he wrote.

While his Twitter handle remained @OverlordKraken, he changed his name to "Perfection."

Hardy later took that profile down, changed the account name to "Machiavelli Kraken" and changed his profile to this: "Come with me Hail Mary Run quick see What do we have here now wana be my ride or die La la la la la la (SuperBlockParty)."

Aqib Talib has been suspended for one game by the NFL for poking Dwayne Allen in the right eye.

Talib is appealing the suspension so he will play on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs.

If the suspension is upheld, Talib would lose one game check -- $294,117 on a $5.5 million base salary.

"I sat with Aqib on the plane, coming home [Sunday] night,'' said Gary Kubiak on Monday. "I had a long talk with him. He's wrong, he needs to stay out of the situation. It hurt the team, he knows that. But by no means did he, I'm convinced, have intentions of poking anybody in the eye. That's where we're at. I'm come straight from meetings to you guys.''

The Dallas Cowboys have declined comment on the release of photos by Deadspin of Greg Hardy's ex-girlfriend's bruises.

The Deadspin piece also includes records of how he threw Nicole Holder against a bathroom wall, onto a bed covered with assault rifles, choking her and threatening her life at his apartment.

Hardy was signed by the Cowboys this past offseason.

In February, when the case was thrown out, Hardy asked that the charges be expunged from his record, The Charlotte Observer reports. In April, he filed paperwork with the same request, and a judge in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, signed the order this week.

That means the incident is not listed on Hardy's record.

Jerry Jones recently praised Hardy as a "real leader."

Hardy was suspended by the NFL on April 22 for the first 10 games of this season, but that suspension was reduced to four games by arbitrator Harold Henderson on July 10. 

The NFL filed a 59-page brief to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as part of its appeal of Richard Berman's decision to vacate the four-game suspension of Tom Brady.

The hearing is scheduled for Feb. 1, which is the Monday of Super Bowl week.

"I find that part to be alarming, that the league office would allow their attorneys to willfully expedite the schedule, so it can be heard during Super Bowl week," union spokesman George Atallah said on Thursday. "I don't think there's the appropriate level of concern there." Atallah added, "I think the league continues to defend an untenable position, by increasing the outrageous claims that have no basis in fact."

Atallah called the comparison made in the briefs to the 1919 Black Sox scandal "utterly insane." Reached for comment via email on the possibility that the hearing lands during Super Bowl week, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello responded, "We will comply with the schedule that the court determines."