Cowboys less talented, but way better off without Hardy
How many years have we been talking about the Cowboys needing more pass rush help? How many times have the Cowboys actually received the kind of help they really needed? When Greg Hardy came from Carolina in 2015, everyone was ready to “release the Kraken” and finally see the kind of opposing quarterback sacks that fans were used to years ago. Not only did Hardy come to Dallas with the promise that the pass rush would get much better, he also came to Dallas with issues about domestic violence and a potential 10-game suspension for the 2015 season because of a violation of the NFL Personal Conduct Policy.
Fast forward to the end of the 2015 NFL season and you see Hardy had 6 sacks, 36 tackles with 23 of those being solo tackles. He did somewhat help the defense but along the way, we also heard reports about locker room issues with Hardy and his fellow teammates. Reports of increased tardiness combined with decreased production on the field towards the end of the season didn’t quite show he had the ability to overcome the personal problems that got him booted from the Panthers.
We all know that production on an NFL team will usually get a player some kind of cushion, but when that production falls and you have a guy like Hardy who was getting into shouting matches and arguments with teammates and coaches in the last year, the icing on the cake was obviously evident. Greg Hardy’s days with the Dallas Cowboys were numbered even before the 2016 suspensions of DeMarcus Lawrence and the Randy Gregory.
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In a world where results need to happen sooner rather than later, Hardy wasn’t exactly the beast that was expected when coming from Carolina, but he wasn’t necessarily a bum on that defensive line either. He was a player that towed the line and leaned on his talents but wasn’t necessarily as good as expected considering the headaches he brought to the team.
Hardy had ten games to show the Dallas Cowboys something of worth, and the results have obviously been disappointing considering the reputation he brought from Carolina and expectations of a disruptive player on a defense that needed help. Putting pressure on a quarterback but never actually getting there is something this defense has done for the last couple of years. Why would the Cowboys bring back a player who was supposed to be above and beyond that same example?
Elite pass rushers are not a dime a dozen, which is exactly the reason why they brought him to the team in the first place. Hardy had an entire off-season, training camp and Preseason to get ready to show his ability to be better than what the team already had on that defensive line, but only showed that he was a great player, nothing more. We can’t say that he’s a bad player, but we can agree with pretty much everyone else that he’s a negative disruption in the locker room.
The Cowboys should just move forward and not try and take two steps back with a re-addition of Greg Hardy. There are young guys currently on the roster that deserve the ability to show what they’ve got to contribute to a defense that has been consistently average across the board the last two years. This current defensive unit is obviously not going to be one of the top defenses in the league. But if these new additions and young, returning players can have a positive impact the first few games until Lawrence and Gregory come back, it should be better than the last two years.
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