The week began with a flurry of news regarding receiver Tyreek Hill’s supposedly imminent return to the NFL. Then, reality set in.

The NFL’s pending Personal Conduct Policy investigation of Hill based on abuse allegations made by his ex-wife, Keeta Vaccaro, has taken a back seat to a civil trial that started on Tuesday. In it, Vaccaro seeks compensation for multiple instances of assault and battery.

On Thursday, Hill testified. Via Xuan Thai of ESPN, Hill admitted to pushing Vaccaro against a wall.

“I told her that night, I said, ‘Don’t you ever touch me in your life,’” Hill said on the witness stand. “I pushed her against the wall, and I tried to force her to get off me. I created a hole in the wall trying to force her to get off me that night.”

Hill clearly sees pushing Vaccaro into a wall hard enough to put a hole in it as a reasonable act of self-defense. The NFL may not agree with his assessment.

He also admitted threatening Vaccaro. Hill said he was “deeply ashamed” for saying that he was “able to get people to hurt her.” (He had no choice but to admit to saying it; his words were recorded and preserved.)

Hill denied Vaccaro’s allegation that he hit her, scratched her, shoved her (other than the admission that he pushed her into a wall hard enough to create a hole), spit in her face, or tried to punch her in the stomach while she was pregnant. While that may persuade a jury to exonerate him, the NFL will make its own assessment as to whether he did or didn’t do the things Vaccaro has accused him of doing.

If, in the end, the NFL’s investigators believe Vaccaro more than they believe Hill, he could be facing a significant suspension. In theory, each incident of alleged abuse could spark a six-game baseline suspension.

Then there’s Hill’s history, dating back to the 2015 guilty plea to domestic assault and battery by strangulation in an incident involving his then-pregnant girlfriend and a still-unresolved 2019 incident that left his young son with a broken arm. While the jury in the ongoing case may not hear evidence as to those situations, the NFL knows all about them. And they will likely influence the league’s assessment of Hill’s credibility — and they could result in enhanced discipline.

The trial testimony to date makes the out-of-the-blue effort to get Hill on an NFL team even more strange. Whatever the strategy for introducing the notion of Hill signing with the Chiefs or some other team on the eve of the civil trial, the civil trial significantly complicates his desire to play again.

Even if the NFL doesn’t choose to banish him with the opportunity to apply for reinstatement after a year — the strongest punishment available under the Personal Conduct Policy — what team in its right mind would sign him after the testimony of the past few days?