The signing of Greg Hardy by the Dallas Cowboys was controversial, if not tone deaf in every way imaginable, and owner Jerry Jones did little to change that narrative even though he tried to spin the acquisition as a positive one. It appears one season was more than enough for the Cowboys to put up with Hardy. Apparently, word is Hardy might be too much of a party animal for the Cowboys to put up with.

According to a report from Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, Hardy’s outgoing lifestyle resulted in the polarizing defendant, sorry defender, arriving late for team meetings. As transcribed by The Washington Post;

“The problem for the Cowboys,” Cole continued, “is that Hardy partied a lot during the season, and simply was not in great physical shape as the season wore on and on and on.

“That was part of the reason he was tardy to several meetings during the season, and part of the reason why the team felt so distracted by his presence.

Are you kidding me? The Dallas Cowboys — THE DALLAS COWBOYS — would not bring a player back because he parties too much?

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Everything about Dallas is built around making every game a party and event, so there is definitely some form of a double standard at play here if this report is accurate. Jones, himself, unabashedly enjoys going out and having a good time, so why should his players be held to a higher standard? Of course, Jones is not the one responsible for preparing his body for a game each week, he’s just there to write the checks and look for ways to make America’s Team mean something again, finding new ways to fill seats in his mega million dollar spaceship he calls a stadium when the Cowboys aren’t very good.

The Hardy experiment was a public relations nightmare for Dallas, so making a move to put that mess behind them would be wise for the PR impact, although time also has a way of healing some wounds in the PR world, so bringing Hardy back should not be completely ruled out at this point in the off-season. With Jones calling the shots, you just never know. Hardy is still a talented and relatively young defensive player so he would almost certainly have an impact on the Dallas defense once things get back on track in Dallas. But with this report now out in the open, the Cowboys will have to act accordingly. If they truly are turned off by Hardy’s party-going, then that raises some serious ethics questions that must be resolved.

Is going out and partying more detrimental to a team than having a guy previously charged with a domestic violence accusation and a sheer lack of perspective in reacting to it later on? And if having a party guy like Hardy on the team is a no-no, then how in the world could the Cowboys even defend making room for quarterback Johnny Manziel on the roster?

The Hardy situation was a mess, and it certainly didn’t lead to success on the field. It may still be best for Dallas to take their losses on the season and move on.

[Washington Post, Bleacher Report]

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.