Cowboys: Resigning Greg Hardy Is A Must
The Dallas Cowboys have given themselves no other option than to reconsider their relationship with controversial defensive lineman Greg Hardy.
I’m not sure what the plan was for the Dallas Cowboys heading into free agency, but it appears that this franchise is certainly behind the eight ball where landing any kind of pass-rush specialist is concerned. The options were never great, although there were possibilities that have now gone to pasture.
Forget the idea that Chris Long or Quinton Coples could be solutions, even in the short term. Both have signed contracts with the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams, respectively.
Nope, he’s now with the Miami Dolphins.
Since the fourth-overall selection in the 2016 NFL Draft is unlikely to yield any immediate help at defensive end, even if it does afford the Cowboys a future Pro Bowl-caliber talent, America’s Team is going to have to reconsider something that some may not like, including head coach Jason Garrett.
Since the end of a 4-12 season in 2015, the Cowboys have given zero indication that Hardy might return for a second season, one in which the former Carolina Panthers Pro Bowl edge-rusher might play an entire season. The reasons are clear, and perhaps even justified in every way. Hardy doesn’t exactly have the best reputation on or off the field – this is pro4+bably putting it mildly.
At the same time, what other options do the Cowboys have at this point?
The Denver Broncos won Super Bowl 50, in large part, thanks to pass rushers DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller terrorizing the best quarterbacks in the NFL. This is but a recent example of how rushing the quarterback is key to winning games in January.
Dallas sack totals haven’t been anything special in years, and certainly not since the release of Ware following the 2013 season. In fact, the main reason that Hardy was brought in to begin with was to help a pass rush that just doesn’t measure up.
Now, some will say that Hardy didn’t make enough impact to justify another run with him.
I would argue that Hardy was suspended for the first month of the season and left plenty of room to speculate on how things might have gone had he played the whole year. This is not to say that the Cowboys would have been the ones playing the Broncos in the NFL championship game, but rather to suggest that winning the NFC East without injured quarterback Tony Romo might have actually happened.
Hardy had 6.0 sacks last season while finishing second on the team to Demarcus Lawrence, the second-year veteran who ended up with 8.0. At the same pace over 16 games Hardy would have tied Lawrence’s mark, and it’s quite likely that the former Ole Miss lineman might have broken double-digits. I find it likely that Hardy might have even saved Romo’s first broken collarbone had he played during that Week 2 pasting of the Philadelphia Eagles which probably marked Dallas’ best defensive performance of the season.
Concerning the draft next month, I find it hard to imagine that a player like Joey Bosa of Ohio State or DeForest Buckner of Oregon are going to come in and immediately create havoc in opposing backfields. Ware was able to do that back in 2005, but I don’t know that there’s anybody with the upside of Dallas’ all-time leader in sacks in this draft.
Frankly, if there’s anybody close to Ware during the annual player selection meeting, it’s likely to be Noah Spence, a teammate of Bosa’s at Ohio State who was kicked off the team for substance abuse. Chances are pretty good that the Cowboys won’t touch him based on the fact that they already have another young pass-rusher in Randy Gregory that will be sitting out the first quarter of the regular season because of – wait for it- a chemical.
The choices are quite limited for the Cowboys, otherwise there wouldn’t be the apparent interest in Benson Mayowa, an undrafted free agent back in 2013 that’s been discarded by both the Seattle Seahawks and the Oakland Raiders during his limited career. Mayowa has 2.0 sacks during his three seasons, which is really more like two since he only suited up twice for the loaded Seahawks during his rookie year.
I guess it’s somewhat intriguing that Mayowa is just 24 years old, but he stands 6’3” and weighs just 240 pounds, so I fail to see how he might qualify as a very frequent option for defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli for at least a couple seasons. Even at that, this player hasn’t done anything to suggest that he’s any kind of answer, especially against the run.
The fact is that pass-rush specialists don’t grow on trees. Unless the Cowboys are cool with trotting out another average pass rush as Romo’s career winds down quickly, I can’t see anybody other than Hardy that can step in and make an immediate difference for the Dallas defense. Even when considering the fact that Hardy didn’t exactly light up the stat sheet in his first year back from a year-long suspension in 2014, others, like Lawrence, certainly did.
Hardy makes the defense better, no matter how you slice it. With a healthy offense operating as expected next season, the odds are extremely high that opponents end up passing the football much more often than they did last season. The Cowboys can afford to wait for nobody else in the NFL to show any interest in the fallout that they have already been through and then grab Hardy on another short-term contract that gives Dallas all the control and leverage with which to disengage on the franchise’s terms.
Next: Cowboys Draft: Corey Coleman Too Good To Pass Up
Make no mistake; Hardy isn’t still unemployed because of his off-the-field activities over the last couple of years. NFL owners are simply buying their time in order to get Hardy on the cheap because you can bet your last dollar that he’ll be playing somewhere next season. If this is indeed the case, it might as well be with the Cowboys.