Of course, to the NFL, this is a lot bigger than Pat Williams and Kevin Williams (and that is big). This is about every single player in the league now and in the future.
If a player can go through an appeal process with the league and be disciplined at the end of that process and now have that decision reversed by an outside tribunal, there exists the possibility of anarchy.
The magnitude of the judge taking on this case cannot be overestimated. In the event this judge, or any judge, is able to act and he has already acted in a preliminary way no decision by the NFL regarding discipline for violation of its policies is final.
And the internal process that has heretofore been the staple of the discipline programs will be immediately emasculated.
The Substance Abuse policies are in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, in Article XLIV, Section 6. They were collectively bargained between the NFLPA and the NFL. Now a third party has astonishingly become involved.