I did find one precedent for staying on the exempt list longer than the likely suspension. Former Jaguars CB Chris Claybrooks spent the entire 2023 season on the commissioner’s exempt list, which was later ruled to be 10 weeks paid and 8 weeks unpaid suspension. He was a free agent after that and never played again.
A few years ago, some players did appeal their placement on the exempt list, so I wonder if that’s what happened with Peppers, either officially or unofficially. It would make sense for Peppers’ agent to do that after 6 games, but a few days for the league to figure things out would put him too late in the week to play, so they just wait until Monday.
It’s a weird scenario that the NFL probably needs to address. They need either a plea deal, a release, or the offseason to happen within 6 games of a player being placed on the exempt list, and they’ve been fortunate enough to get that in the majority of cases. When that doesn’t happen, things get messy like this.