Jeremy Mincey: Tension grew with Greg Hardy in Cowboys locker room

There have been numerous reports that claim Greg Hardy became a major problem within the Dallas Cowboys’ locker room this season, and the silence from the team in the wake of those reports is pretty deafening.

Jeremy Mincey is one of the few Cowboys players who was willing to go on the record to discuss Hardy’s first — and perhaps only — year in Dallas. In a recent interview with KDFW-TV, the veteran defensive end acknowledged that Hardy created problems for the team.

“He sits right beside me, so he’s welcomed every day, you know what I mean?” Mincey said, as transcribed by SportsDay. “I have to deal with him, and being that you have to deal with him, I grew accustomed to a misunderstood person and I got to know him a little better than a lot of people here.

“It was tough. It was tough. You know, you got this guy, who you want to be a leader, and then you got that guy. It was just too much.”

Mincey stopped short of confirming reports that Hardy quickly lost the support of his teammates, but he admitted that tension within the locker room grew as Hardy began showing a lack of focus.

“Yeah it grew. It grew. It definitely grew,” he said. “I hate (that) it happened — you talk about a team that was so close knit and tight and all of a sudden it was just different. I wouldn’t say that he’s the reason for that happening, but sometimes change, sometimes if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And sometimes with change, the team is different. Regardless of how great this athlete is and regardless of this and that, if they’re not mentally on the same page, you’re not going to get the same results.”

Mincey, who is set to become a free agent himself, said it would be difficult for the Cowboys to bring Hardy back. That meshes with what ownership recently said about the troubled superstar.

There’s no denying Hardy’s talent, but his tendency to blow off team obligations combined with his disturbing domestic violence history should make him virtually unemployable. It’s hard to imagine many people want him as a teammate.