Sports

The rain in Spain may or may not fall on Daron Payne.

The Commanders defensive tackle will appeal his one-game suspension for punching Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, via John Keim of ESPN.com. With the Commanders playing in Madrid on Sunday, he won't be able to make the trip unless he prevails.

It's been a mixed bag this year for suspended players. Lions safety Brian Branch's one-game suspension for hitting Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster after a Week 5 game was upheld. The one-game suspension imposed on Broncos linebacker Dre Greenlaw for accosting referee Brad Allen after a Week 7 win over the Giants also was upheld. More recently, the one-game suspension of Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu for his third hip-drop tackle of the season was modified to a $100,000 fine.

The season began with the league suspending Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter one game with pay for spitting on Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott before the first offensive snap of the game. Carter had been ejected. (Carter did not appeal.)

Payne was ejected, too. His infraction came with nine minutes left in the second quarter. Enough time apparently had elapsed to couple the ejection with an unpaid suspension.

The stakes for Payne are much higher than a paid trip to Spain. He'll lose $1.087 million, based on his salary of $19.56 million for 2025.

The appeals are heard by one of three hearing officers who are jointly hired and paid by the NFL and the NFL Players Association. Sooner than later, Payne and the Commanders will find out whether he'll be making the trek to Europe for a Week 11 game against the Dolphins.

The NFL honored the memory of Marshawn Kneeland during games this weekend. The Cowboys, though, didn't play.

They were on their off week last week when Kneeland died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to authorities, following a police chase early Thursday morning. He was 24.

The team returned to The Star on Monday, the first time they have met since Kneeland's death.

The Cowboys announced they will remember Kneeland in a number of ways.

Players will wear a helmet decal for the remainder of the season, and they also will wear special T-shirts before the next two games.

The Cowboys don't play at home until Nov. 23 against the Eagles when they will hold a moment of silence and video tribute before the game.

Kneeland's girlfriend, Catalina, and his family will attend the game, Clarence Hill of All City DLLS reports.

"He had a big passion and love for the game," Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said on 105.3 The Fan on Monday. "He played with a high motor. He loved to get after it. Certainly, that jumped off the tape when you watched Marshawn when we were scouting him. I mean he just jumped off the tape, how he hustled, how he played the game, his passion for the game. And certainly, he was that way as a person and played that way for us and we're just going to miss him so much."

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan's Monday injury update featured some optimism about wide receiver Ricky Pearsall.

Pearsall has been out with a knee injury for the last six games, but Shanahan told reporters on a conference call that the team is hopeful that Pearsall will practice on Wednesday. Pearsall had 20 catches for 327 yards in the first four weeks of the season.

Shanahan did not have any positive changes to report about wideout Brandon Aiyuk. He remains on the physically unable to perform list as a result of last season's knee injury and Shanahan said he will not return to practice ahead of the team's Week 11 game against the Cardinals.

Shanahan said on Sunday that there's hope quarterback Brock Purdy will be able to play this week and didn't offer any further update on his condition Monday.