Greg Hardy is reportedly quite unhappy that Aldon Smith, another NFL player with a long history of legal issues, is getting another nice payday in the NFL while he waits by the phone.
According to Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole, Hardy was very upset by the fact that his fellow pass rusher Smith got a new two year deal with the Oakland Raiders despite his repeated brushes with the law and trouble with the league. Hardy himself has received little interest thus far, though his representatives believe that some team will eventually be willing to take him on with an incentive-laden deal.
According to Cole, Hardy’s lack of interest has less to do with his history of domestic violence and more to do with the off-field issues he had with the Dallas Cowboys in 2015. He reportedly caused problems in the locker room and had a penchant for partying too much, which led to him missing meetings and being late for practices. Teams are simply uninterested in that sort of distraction.
That, it seems, is the ultimate difference between Hardy and Smith, which says a lot about where the NFL’s priorities stand, mind you. Smith has a long list of legal troubles and is serving a yearlong suspension for violating the league substance abuse policy. Unlike Hardy, though, he’s not really a distraction to the team when he’s around. There are no stories about excessive partying or locker room tension. Hardy’s unrepentant denials may not be the primary reason that teams won’t touch him, but it can’t help, either.
