The Dallas Cowboys surprised a lot of people in and around the NFL when they elected to sign former Carolina Panthers defensive end and domestic violence charge target Greg Hardy in free agency.
It makes considerable sense when viewed from a purely football-related perspective - he's a pass-rush maven that provides a consistently disruptive presence off the edge and forces the opposition to tailor their blocking scheme toward limiting his progress to the quarterback.
The Cowboys finished last season with just 28 sacks, good enough for 28th in the league. Hardy finished the 2013 season with Carolina with 15 sacks all by himself - he had nine sacks total in his last four games for the Panthers.
The NFL though, is not purely about football. It's about entertainment value and leadership and morals - or so the league's brass and specifically, commissioner Roger Goodell, would have you believe.
From a public relations standpoint, the Cowboys, who not that long ago touted the fact that they had built their current team with "the right kind of guys," knowingly took a media hit in order to improve the product on the field.
It was a, no doubt, tough call for a Dallas franchise that was potentially a sack or two from finding their way past the Green Bay Packers and into the NFC Championship Game last year, but it is one owner Jerry Jones and head coach Jason Garrett clearly felt they needed to make.
Garrett though, speaking at the NFL owners meetings in Phoenix on Wednesday, was adamant that despite the team's decision to bring Hardy on board, he and Jones won't hesitate to jettison the troubled defensive end should issues of any kind surface.
"The conditions of the contract were important: No guaranteed money, earn it every step of the way. At any point, if we don't feel like you're doing what we want you to do as a player and as a person, we can move on from you," Garrett said, per Pro Football Talk.
The Cowboys did well to protect themselves from any Hardy shenanigans by creating a one-year deal for the talented defensive end that carries a base salary of just $750,000 but allows him to earn up to $13.1 million via workout bonuses, sack incentives and per-game bonuses, several of which he likely won't ever see or reach thanks to a looming suspension by the league.
In the wake of the signing, Jones released a statement saying that the team had done their due diligence in researching Hardy's past and "gaining a solid understanding of what he is all about as a person and as a football player."
Stephen Jones added recently that the team had their "eyes wide open" when it comes to Hardy's potential suspension which, as the days pass, seems more and more likely to go well beyond a simple slap on the wrists.
In the end, the Cowboys did their research, they protected themselves and they're ready to move on from Hardy at the first sign of trouble - they did about as good a job as is feasibly possible when signing a player currently on the commissioner's exempt list and who recently faced charges of domestic violence.
Whether all the trouble will lead to an improved defense and a stronger Cowboys team next year, remains to be seen.
