UPDATE: Wednesday afternoon, the Dallas Cowboys signed Greg Hardy to a one-year deal worth $11.3 million. Tampa Bay, another interested team, pulled out of conversation.
If CBSSports.com and other reports are to be believed, the Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys will be the final suitors for defensive end Greg Hardy, a gifted sack specialist who spent most of last season on the commissioner’s exempt list and is facing a suspension of up to six games for a domestic abuse incident a year ago.
The 6-foot-5, 275-pound Hardy played in one game for the Carolina Panthers in 2014 before he was convicted in a bench trial of assaulting and threatening his ex-girlfriend. But the case was dismissed Feb. 9 after Hardy asked for a jury trial and his accuser, former girlfriend Nicole Holder, refused to cooperate with the district attorney’s office and failed to show for court.
According to SB Nation, “On June 15th, 2014, Hardy was convicted of assaulting his partner Nicole Holder. He exercised his right for an appeal after he denied the claims against him by Holder. It was alleged that Hardy flung her into a bathtub after throwing Holder on top of his bed, (which was coincidentally filled with guns), and choking her . . . There are rumors that a financial settlement was made.”
Hardy denied all allegations made by Holder and said she became angry when he refused to have sex with her.
Hardy is a Tennessee native who played college football at the University of Mississippi. The Panthers selected him in the sixth round of the 2010 draft after his stock dropped dramatically following an unimpressive performance in the Indianapolis combine.
Hardy was deactivated after the first week as his legal issues played out and heat surrounding domestic violence in the NFL intensified. On Sept. 17, Hardy agreed to be placed on the commissioner’s exempt list. He did not play for the rest of the season.
Prior to the case, Hardy had been an extremely productive player. He had 18 sacks in his first three seasons before breaking out with 59 tackles and 15 sacks in 2013. In his last three full seasons, Hardy produced sack totals of 13, 14 and 15.
But Hardy packs such baggage that both the woebegone Oakland Raiders and pass-rush needy San Francisco 49ers won’t have anything to do with him, considering him toxic.
“At this point we don’t have any intentions of doing anything with him,” Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie told CSN Bay Area. “His situation is a delicate one. He has something ongoing with the league also.”
“There’s been no contact with Greg Hardy or any representative of his,” 49ers GM Trent Baalke said. “There is no interest that we’ve shown, nor will we show, in bringing Greg Hardy into this program.”
Even Jacksonville, which can use all the help it can get, won’t pursue Hardy. Its general manager, David Caldwell, diplomatically said it is “unlikely the Jaguars will pursue” the defensive end.
Exactly why the Seahawks have been linked to Hardy isn’t clear. That could be nothing more than smoke blowing from Hardy’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, trying to drum up interest in his client. According to Rosenhaus, “six teams” are interested in Hardy. Rosenhaus hasn’t identified them, nor has any team corroborated the Rosenhaus claim.
Unlike the Raiders and 49ers, the Seahawks have not made any statement regarding Hardy. But the Seahawks and Cowboys could get Hardy on the super cheap and fill needs. To do so, they would not only have to deal with Hardy’s pending punishment from the NFL — possibly a suspension for the first six regular-season games — but with the red flags Hardy has attached to his future. So the question is:
[polldaddy poll=8731920]
11 Comments
Hardy shouldn’t even be on their radar. Go after Dwight Freeney instead.
It’s not the looking so much as the buying.
NO WAY!!!!!!!!! This guy is a REAL problem and the Hawks do nmot need him. Period.
The following quote sums it up.
“But Hardy packs such baggage that both the woebegone Oakland Raiders and pass-rush needy San Francisco 49ers won’t have anything to do with him, considering him toxic.
“At this point we don’t have any intentions of doing anything with him,” Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie told CSN Bay Area. “His situation is a delicate one. He has something ongoing with the league also.””
If you read the trial transcript of the victim’s testimony, you will be further inflamed.
Can you provide the readers the link?
This is a summary, but the Charlotte Observer, a good paper, has archives of the day by day:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article9140591.html
I hope this isn’t true. Even the thought that the Seahawks would consider bringing this guy in gives me shuddering memories of the Bob Whitsitt Era in Seattle AND Portland, the fantasy-league mentality in filling out a roster solely based on a player’s stats and/or ability without a thought to what they bring to a locker room or the community.
One thing that Schneider and Carroll have been good at in particular is being able to separate offbeat characters from bad ones. Whitsitt never could because character was never a consideration with him. And it showed.
Kinda forgot about Whitsitt’s history. But it’s a good point. Carroll has never been afraid of taking guys with red flags.
The DV issue for many fans is close to unique: Can’t overlook it.
I voted yes on the basis that PC and JS can sit him down and lay down the law: Any trouble at all and he gets his walking papers. It’s up to Hardy to prove that giving him a second chance is the right choice.
If the Harvin trade hadn’t failed so spectacularly, I might buy in to that. PCJS is not flawless, plus Hardy’s alleged DV episode, for which a judge found him guilty, is so reprehensible that the fan turnoff will be enormous.
One may have nothing to do with the other, but I found it interesting that word about the Seahawks’ potential interest in Hardy came out just before another story regarding Bennett’s desire for a new contract and/or trade to Atlanta went public. Might the Seahawks use Hardy as “you-can-be-replaced-for less” leverage with Bennett? It IS a business at this level and “next man up” is not an empty axiom.