Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who has not played a snap in the NFL since Week 1, will likely play in the NFL next season, according to a report from Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

Peterson, who is currently appealing an indefinite suspension from the NFL, was placed on the NFL’s exempt list by the Minnesota Vikings from Weeks 3 through 10. Peterson was paid despite the fact that he was not allowed to play, as the case regarding the 29 year old running back and the charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child, in this case, his son, worked itself out in the court of law. On Nov. 4, Peterson pleaded no contest to the lesser charge of recklessly assaulting his four year old son, and avoided jail time. Though some believed that the plea deal would result in Peterson being able to return to the field this season, on Nov. 18, the NFL levied an indefinite suspension without pay on the Vikings running back, effectively ending his season.

A decision on Peterson’s appeal is expected to come soon, and should an agreement be reached between Peterson’s camp and hearing officer Harold Henderson, “it’s believed Peterson would be eligible to play in 2015, without restriction or limitation, writes Mike Florio. Florio went on to say that the question “would become whether and to what extent he’d forfeit game checks for the balance of the 2014 season.”

In the event that an agreement is not reached between the two parties, Henderson will have to issue a decision, which will spark “the immediate filing of a lawsuit in federal court in Minnesota,” by Peterson’s camp if the decision is not in Peterson’s favor, according to the report. This legal action would challenge Henderson’s impartiality, by “his lingering ties to the league and a decision that would go against the clear weight of the evidence, as Peterson and the NFL Players Association perceive it.”

If Henderson were to rule in Peterson’s favor, it would come as the second reversal of an NFL decision by a neutral third party, again undermining the power that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has wielded so freely over the course of his 8 year reign as the NFL’s top dog. Last week, U.S. Judge Barbara S. Jones overruled the NFL league office’s indefinite suspension of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice. Rice, who was originally suspended 2 games for striking his then-fiancée Janay Palmer, was indefinitely suspended by the league only after video of the ordeal was released to the public.