Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy was likely just as shocked as the rest of the Cowboys decision-makers and the general NFL viewing public when the league slapped him with a 10-game suspension this offseason which, added to the 15 regular season games and two playoff contests he missed while an inactive member of the Carolina Panthers in 2014 due to being placed on commissioner Roger Goodell's exempt list, would mean a total of 27 NFL games missed for the pass-rushing maven over a two-year span.
Hardy was reportedly bound and determined to fight the NFL tooth and nail to get his suspension reduced while making the rounds on his free agent tour in March.
Now, it seems some of the wind has gone out of Hardy's sails where his legal battle with the league is concerned.
"In talking to sources close to defensive end Greg Hardy of the Dallas Cowboys, as he awaits the decision on his appeal of a 10-game suspension from the NFL, those sources say that Hardy is essentially losing some of his will to fight. In other words, he is worn down from a legal process and an appeals process from the NFL that has taken more than a year, and at this point, if he can get some reduction of that penalty, from, say, 10 to eight or perhaps six games, he may be willing to drop any further action against the NFL," Jason Cole of Bleacher Report reported on Tuesday.
Hardy, like Adrian Peterson, does still have the potential recourse of filing suit against the NFL if his appeal proves mostly, or completely, unsuccessful. From the sounds of it though, Hardy may simply be ready to see the whole ordeal done, take whatever punishment is meted out and move forward as quickly and amicably as possible.
"Back in March when Hardy was going through the free agent process and looking for a team to sign with, a lot of the discussion was, if it was more than two games, Hardy was definitely going to sue the NFL. At this point, some of his attitude has changed."
For the Cowboys, Hardy was signed thanks in large part to an anemic pass rush that failed the team in the season and the playoff's biggest moments last year. The quicker Hardy can return to the fold, the quicker he can get to work terrorizing opposing quarterbacks for a Dallas team that unexpectedly emerged victorious from the NFC East in 2015 and is facing much higher expectations in 2015.
