No, the Cowboys won’t be reprimanding defensive end Greg Hardy for his behavior from Sunday, which included storming a special-teams huddle, slapping at a clipboard in the hands of special-teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia, and then engaging in (at best) a mutual shove with Bisaccia. Instead, the Cowboys apparently want to reward Hardy.
On Monday, Cowboys executive V.P. Stephen Jones said that the team “absolutely” hopes to extend Hardy’s current contract, which expires after the season.
Appearing on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas (via Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News), Jones acknowledged that it’s “very much a possibility” that a new deal with Hardy will get done.
Jones was asked whether Hardy’s personality, which has manifested itself in many ways during his time with the Cowboys, is a problem for the team, Jones was unequivocal.
“Not at all. Zero,” Jones said. “Got a lot respect from his teammates, and he’s a very competitive guy, obviously wants to win. Frustrations can flow. We’ve had great football players throughout our ownership that can get fiery on the sidelines. He’s not the first to do that, whether it’s Michael Irvin, Dez Bryant, Charles Haley. We’ve had them.”
But how many of them have crossed the line when it comes to laying hands on a coach? Not many, at least not that was captured on camera and displayed to the world during the NBC Sunday Night Football postgame show.
“I think his teammates respect him from everything I heard, their comments after the game,” Jones added. “Everybody was supportive of him, and there’s no issue here.”
There’s no issue because Hardy is a very good player. If the last guy on the roster behaves like Hardy did on Sunday, he’d be gone by Monday. Since Hardy possesses a skill that already prompted the Cowboys to look the other way on one of the biggest off-field issues about which the NFL currently is wrestling, he’ll continue to have excuses made for him, as long as he continues to play at a high level.
It’s predictable, it’s obvious, and it would be a lot easier to stomach if the Cowboys would simply say, “Look, guys. You know how this works. We make excuses for the stars and examples of the scrubs. That’s the way it’s always been at every level of every sport. And if we were to cut Hardy, someone else would happily give him his latest second chance.”