The hits keep coming for the National Football League. In an attempt to show itself as the strong arm of the law, the league set into motion multiple suspensions under the new personal conduct policy relating to incidents that took place before it was implemented.
We already know that the federal courts sided with Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson in his appeal of an indefinite suspension levied against him by the NFL. Mere hours after that ruling became public, comes this interesting piece of news.
According to Pro Football Talk, Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy will seek immediate reinstatement from the Commissioner’s Exempt List.
Hardy played in just one game last season before being placed on the exempt list following a domestic violence issue with his former girlfriend, Nicole Holder. After initially being found guilty, Hardy filed for a jury trial—a right afforded to him in the state of North Carolina. After an extended delay, the case was eventually dropped when the alleged victim failed to show up to court proceedings. That came on the heels of the two sides coming to some sort of a financial agreement beforehand.
No matter how bad this situation looks for Hardy, one thing is clear. The Adrian Peterson ruling from Thursday will and should impact a potential Hardy suspension. If he were to be suspended by the National Football League upon signing with a team as a free agent, it would be under the guise of using the current domestic violence policy retroactively. That’s something the feds ruled against in the Peterson case on Thursday.
How does this impact Hardy? He’s currently on the exempt list and can only be reinstated by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Though, if Goodell reinstates Hardy to only suspend him later, the federal courts would take issue. In addition to this, the feds might take issue should Goodell refuse to reinstate Hardy.
The Peterson ruling was big for Hardy. His market likely wasn’t going to be too strong with teams worried about a potential suspension. Now that this might not be the case moving forward, we could see a rather large market for Hardy’s services.
Hardy, who was actually paid $13.1 million while away from the Panthers last season, racked up 15 sacks during a Pro Bowl 2013 campaign. On the field, he is seen as one of the elite pass-rush options around the NFL.
Earlier this month, we ran a story on how the Hardy case may put the league’s new domestic violence policy to the test. Based on the Peterson ruling, that’s now a real likelihood.
It will be interesting to see what steps the NFL takes moving forward here.
Photo: USA Today