Greg Hardy News – a Huge Lift for Cowboys
By Reid Hanson
The NFL just announced that the 10-game suspension for Greg Hardy will be reduced to 4 games.
At a time when the Dallas-Fort Worth area needed good news the most, they got it. Greg Hardy, The Cowboys prized (and maligned) free agent, will have six games shaved off his 10-game suspension.
The significance of this reduction cannot be ignored as the Cowboys will now have their lone PROVEN pass-rusher available for the majority of the season. Last season the pass-rush was clearly the Cowboys Achilles heel, with the Cowboys finishing near the bottom of the league in sacks.
Their lack of pass-rush prompted them to sign the soon-to-be suspended Pro Bowler, despite enormous character concerns, and the mutually inclusive bad PR that comes with a signing like this. Hardy, who hasn’t even had a full practice since week 1 of last season, now will only miss ¼ of the regular season and should be an impactful force for majority of the season.
This is big news for the defense, and bigger news for the DE rotation.
Like Rolando McClain, who is also suspended for the first four games of the season, Greg Hardy will be able to be a full participant in training camp and preseason games. He will be able to get in game shape and digest Rod Marinelli’s aggressive defensive scheme.
With the 4-game suspension, Hardy stands a better chance of staying in game shape than if the 10-game suspension was held up. That alone is invaluable.
This is big news for the defense, and bigger for the defensive end rotation. Jeremy Mincey is expected to hold down the RDE spot in Greg Hardy’s absence. Mincey, last season’s sack leader, will serve as an every-down player early, likely sliding into a DT spot in nickel defense passing situations.
On the other side, last season’s high second round draft pick, DeMarcus Lawrence, is expected to claim the LDE. On the left, Lawrence will be able to be the complete DE (run-stopper and pass-rusher) the Cowboys were grooming him to be and should be able to develop more consistency on the left without Hardy taking his snaps.
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This year’s prized draft pick, Randy Gregory, figures into the mix as well, acting primarily as a situational pass-rusher. The undersized Nebraska DE will be tasked with adding weight, while maintaining speed and agility this preseason. If he can do so, expect to see him lined up absolutely everywhere on passing downs, rushing from the edge as a DE, and even up the middle as a LB. With Hardy coming back early, the pressure is the off the Cowboys from forcing Gregory into a DE role too soon.
Getting Hardy coming back this soon will do wonders for a defense searching for a pass-rush. The Cowboys have plenty of young talent with pass-rushing potential around Hardy to make this a potent defensive attack in 2015.
Greg Hardy indicated earlier he plans to pursue legal intervention for any suspension above 2 games (which was the max penalty at the time he committed the offense), but fatigue and compromise may win out and Hardy may accept the 6-game reduction. Regardless if the suspension is further protested or not, this is big news for Cowboys Nation, and provides a boost to a fun, young, and exciting defense.
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