Ray Rice has been reinstated. (USATSI)
Ray Rice has been reinstated. (USATSI)

With former Ravens running back Ray Rice winning his appeal of his indefinite suspension on Friday, as confirmed by CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora, here are the nine things to take away from the judge's ruling on Rice.

1) Rice is eligible to play immediately. He probably won't be back in Baltimore -- the team already had released him -- but potentially it'd be possible. Either way, he's a free agent who could be signed by all 32 teams, and he could play as early as Sunday.

2) Will anybody actually sign Rice now? It seems hard to fathom for two reasons. 1) Rice is a PR nightmare at the moment. No matter how sorry he seems to be after assaulting his wife in an Atlantic City hotel elevator, it'll be tough for many fans to forgive him immediately (though not all fans would have this problem). 2) After four-straight years of 1,100-yard seasons, Rice didn't play well in 2013, averaging a career-low 3.1 yards per carry. Plus, he hasn't played at all this year. It's not like he's a running back with young legs. He simply might not be all that good anymore.  

3) Who could sign him? Here are my best guesses: the Raiders (the worst rushing team in the NFL), the Buccaneers (Bobby Rainey is the team leader with 395 rushing yards), the Falcons (it's probably time to let go of Steven Jackson) and the Panthers (it's probably time to let go of DeAngelo Williams AND Jonathan Stewart). La Canfora, meanwhile, has a smart take on why the Colts could go after Rice.

4) Does that mean Rice's career is over? Not necessarily. Teams will probably wait until 2015 to sign him (if they do). As La Canfora recently wrote, "A return in 2015, with a long offseason to get acclimated to a new city, new locker room and new coaches, would be more ideal than a return in this charged atmosphere, with the video of him knocking out is wife appearing on the Internet just a few months ago, and the Adrian Peterson child abuse suspension hearing still very much a hot-button issue and his appeal hearing slated for Dec. 2." But as we've seen in the past with Michael Vick and Donte Stallworth, if a team feels like a player can help the team win, said team will sign said player, no matter the baggage that comes with him.

5) This is a blow to commissioner Roger Goodell's authority: The latest CBA, as agreed to by the NFL and the NFLPA, gave Goodell huge amounts of power in meting out discipline as it relates to the player-conduct policy. But, as the legal system provides, it's unfair to place somebody in double jeopardy, and since Goodell originally suspended Rice for two games and then tried to amend the suspension indefinitely after the TMZ video emerged, arbitrator Barbara S. Jones ruled that his actions were not appropriate.

Jones also wrote that after announcing the league's new domestic violence policy would impose a six-game suspension on a first-time offender and a lifetime ban for a second fence, Goodell called Rice and told him his then-two-game suspension would not be affected. Wrote Jones: "Despite recognizing that the original policy was inadequate, the Commissioner never considered changing Rice’s discipline because “I gave him the discipline, I felt it was appropriate.” The policy change was forward looking because the League is “required to provide proper notification.” After the policy change, he called Rice and made clear to him that “it didn’t impact on him . . . He was given his discipline and we moved forward.” That, obviously, changed.

Overall, Goodell's reputation has taken a massive hit by his response to this incident. The fact Jones has overturned his ruling doesn't help. 

6) It also means Jones believed Rice: The biggest reason Goodell believed he could give Rice two different suspensions was because he said Rice wasn't truthful with him and didn't accurately describe the events in the elevator (this, after he received new information from the elevator security camera discovered by TMZ). Rice claimed he had told Goodell everything that had happened, and the running back was backed up by Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome. Obviously, Jones sided with Rice. Wrote Jones in her ruling: "Because, after careful consideration of all of the evidence, I am not persuaded that Rice lied to, or misled, the NFL at his June interview, I find that the indefinite suspension was an abuse of discretion and must be vacated."

7) What do the NFL, NFLPA and Rice think? Here's the statement the league released Friday afternoon: "We respect Judge Jones’s decision to reinstate Ray Rice from his indefinite suspension for violating the league’s Personal Conduct Policy in an incident of domestic violence. Ray Rice is a free agent and has been eligible to be signed by an NFL team since he was released by the Ravens. Based on Judge Jones’ decision, he will be eligible to play upon signing a new contract."

Here's what the union had to say: "This decision is a victory for a disciplinary process that is fair and transparent. This union will always stand up and fight for the due process rights of our players. While we take no pleasure in seeing a decision that confirms what we have been saying about the Commissioner's office acting arbitrarily, we hope that this will bring the NFL owners to the collective bargaining table to fix a broken process. It is clear that this decision should force the NFL to embrace neutral arbitration as part of a necessary due process in all cases. The players thank Judge Barbara Jones for her time and thoroughness in this matter."

And the statement from Rice, via ESPN.com's Adam Schefter: "I would like to thank Judge Barbara Jones, the NFL Players Association, my attorneys, agents, advisors, family, friends and fans -- but most importantly, my wife Janay. I made an inexcusable mistake and accept full responsibility for my actions. I am thankful that there was a proper appeals process in place to address this issue. I will continue working hard to improve myself and be the best husband, father and friend, while giving back to my community and helping others to learn from my mistakes."

8) He's still tied to the Ravens: Even though the Ravens supported Rice throughout the pre-suspension process, they dropped him as soon as soon as the video emerged. But that doesn't mean the team is completely rid of him.

9) Twitter reactions: Here are some of the most interesting takes.