Hardy’s out until Thanksgiving Day
Only a month removed from making the controversial signing of Greg Hardy to a one-year deal, Jerry Jones unfortunately will be without his newly acquired defensive-end to start the first 10 games of the 2015 regular season. Due to conduct detrimental to the league, Hardy is now suspended without pay until week 12 of the season, where he’s eligible to return to their Thanksgiving day match-up against Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers – who coincidentally are now his former team after agreeing to the one-year deal a few weeks ago.
Following a two month investigation involving his now ex-girlfriend Nicole Holder, the league felt they had enough sufficient and credible evidence that Hardy violated the NFL’s strict domestic abuse policies – following his North Carolina state court dismal from February. The team initially expected a six-game suspension at the most, while a four-game ban was most likely before today’s unfortunate news. Dating back to his season-long suspension last year, Hardy will have missed 25 games in total before finally re-taking the field this November.
“The NFL’s investigation concluded that Hardy violated the Personal Conduct Policy by using physical force against Nicole Holder in at least four instances,” the statement read.
“The net effect of these acts was that Ms. Holder was severely traumatized and sustained a range of injuries, including bruises and scratches on her neck, shoulders, upper chest, back, arms and feet,” Commissioner Goodell wrote in his decision. “The use of physical force under the circumstances present here, against a woman substantially smaller than you and in the presence of powerful, military-style assault weapons, constitutes a significant act of violence in violation of the Personal Conduct Policy.”
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