The Cowboys seemed enthusiastic about signing Greg Hardy to a long-term extension when the defensive end recorded four sacks in his first four games with the team, but it appears things have changed in a hurry.
When asked during an appearance on 1310 The Ticket if Dallas is planning to bring Hardy back next season, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones gave a very careful answer.
“We’re a little early in the game to be bringing final decisions to the table as to whether a player really performed in a way we feel like he should have performed,” Jones said, as transcribed by David Moore of SportsDay. “Should we bring that player back, should we not bring the player back? Those are all things to discuss over the next two to three weeks.
“If you were to say, ‘OK, Greg had six sacks in 12 games, would you have expected more than that?’ The answer to that question is probably yes. But at the same time, he affects other players on the defensive line.”
There is little question the Cowboys are a better team with Greg Hardy the player on the field. But Greg Hardy the person is an entirely different story, and the next thing Jones said made it seem like re-signing the 27-year-old is not going to happen.
“There are many things that go into the evaluation,” Jones added. “There is one, performance on the field. Two, what kind of guy is he off the field? What’s the medical outlook? Those are all things that will factor in not just to Greg Hardy, but any player we have on our football team.”
If the type of person Hardy is off the field truly factors into the team’s decision, he has to be gone. The question, of course, is if it will.
Based on some of the things we heard in a recent report about Hardy, Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett does not want him back. Jerry Jones said in October that he wants to sign Hardy long-term, but that was before disturbing photos from Hardy’s domestic violence incident were released. The guy is a PR nightmare and his teammates don’t seem to like him. He shouldn’t be playing for any NFL team.
