Continued: Williams ruling head-slaps NFL

In all the fervor over a federal judge's ruling extending Kevin and Pat Williams' playing time, an important point may have been overlooked: The Williamses and the NFL Players Association just might win this thing.

U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson issued an order Thursday extending the time for both sides to present their case. That ruling followed Magnuson's move last week barring the league from enforcing four-game suspensions on the Williamses -- star defensive tackles for the Vikings -- and three New Orleans Saints players. Testing showed they had used a banned diuretic that was present -- but not a listed ingredient -- in a weight-loss supplement they had taken.

Before handing down that order, Magnuson chided league officials for not giving him enough time to review the complex issues in the case. Included are two key questions:

Did league officials, who knew that the supplement contained the diuretic two years before the Williams' drug tests, have a legal obligation to tell the players? And was the arbitrator who upheld the players' suspensions, Jeffrey Pash, biased because people who work for him made the decision not to tell players about the drug?

NFL officials argued that they have no obligation to warn players about what their supplements contain. And the NFL insists that the players union agreed to the arbitration process, including Pash's role as arbitrator.

Magnuson's Thursday ruling leaves little doubt what he thinks.

He wrote: "It is plain that the involvement of Mr. Pash's office and [Adolpho] Birch, Mr. Pash's subordinate, in the alleged conduct rendered Mr. Pash a partial arbitrator. ... Although Mr. Pash's decisions are well-reasoned, he glossed over the rather shocking allegations that the NFLPA makes. ... Such testimony calls into question the very basis of the NFL's position on banned substances."

Regarding league officials knowing that the supplement StarCaps contained the diuretic bumetanide but did not warn the players, Magnuson said that the players' union "has at least raised a substantial question as to whether the NFL" and its officials "had such a duty."

Kevin Williams was happy with Thursday's ruling, which certainly means he'll be eligible to play for the remaining three games of the regular season and any playoff games.

"I haven't been worrying about it really from the get-go," Kevin Williams said. "It's in the judge's hands now, and basically that's what we're waiting on still. We just have an extended period, and we can play right now."

Vikings player representative Darren Sharper said the player reps' March meeting would include discussion on the issues relating to the NFL's drug policies.

"The union and the NFL are definitely going to look at the policy now and figure out what we have to do so that this doesn't happen again with so much confusion," Sharper said. "It needs to be more concrete as far as every different type of thing that's not able to be used, that you can't use."

Two Twin Cities employment attorneys say the language of the ruling should serve as a signal to the league that, ultimately, things may not go its way.

Marshall Tanick, who has represented players in drug-testing matters, said of Magnuson: "He came out pretty strong on this one. This looks like, at the end of the day, the scoreboard is going to be in favor of the players."

John Klassen, an attorney who does much of his work in federal court, said Magnuson's language about Pash's partiality and the league's obligation to warn players is a clear signal that the tide may have turned against the NFL.

"It is no longer about the players' conduct," Klassen said. "It is about the NFL's conduct, which would be a surprise turn that the NFL didn't expect when they stepped into this."

After all, it was the NFL that moved to shift the Williamses' case from state court -- where they had obtained a temporary restraining order two weeks ago -- to federal court.

"It's the old lesson," Klassen said. "Be careful what door you open and what arena you walk into. And the NFL may come to regret that."

Staff writers Judd Zulgad and Chip Scoggins contributed to this story.