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It has been over a week since Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy met with arbitrator Harold Henderson at an appeal hearing for his 10-game suspension which was given to him by league commissioner Roger Goodell. And the fact that neither Hardy nor the Cowboys have heard anything back to this point speaks volumes as to what the final decision may wind up being.
So far this seems to be following the same trend as Adrian Peterson’s ordeal, except for in that case, Henderson sided with the league and upheld their decision. Peterson at that point took his appeal to U.S. District Judge David Doty who rightfully found fault with the league’s suspension and overturned their ruling.
The main reason for his decision was that the league was punishing Peterson using the guidelines from a personal conduct policy that was adopted after the alleged incident occurred; and this is the same argument the NFLPA will use for Hardy’s case. The fact that Goodell suspended Hardy for an arbitrary number of games alone should persuade Henderson to reduce his suspension, but what will ultimately help Hardy is the fact that a precedence has already been set.
The league cannot afford the embarrassment another overturned ruling would cause them at this point; they must find a way to save face if they hope to continue to operate with impunity. So I truly believe the reason they are taking so long to come to a decision in Hardy’s case is they are trying to find a number that will both satisfy the Dallas Cowboys and help keep their reputation of being an iron fist intact.
The NFL has their biggest and most visible appeal hearing to date coming up with Tom Brady and Deflategate debacle, so they must handle this properly if they have any hope of remaining a reputable league. Expect Hardy’s suspension to get reduced significantly in the next week or two.
Kelly Anderson is a blogger for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bgipp01 or add him to your network on Google.
