Defensive end Greg Hardy is expected to play a large role on the Cowboys‘ defense when he returns from a four-game suspension, but because he signed a one-year deal, Dallas will have to make a decision on whether to retain Hardy at season’s end. The Cowboys recently locked up Hardy’s linemate Tyrone Crawford to a long-term extension, but team owner Jerry Jones says the club hasn’t yet discussed such a deal with Hardy.
“We haven’t really broached it up to this point,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan’s Ben and Skin show. “But it certainly is something, like we said, any young players that only have a year on their contract, then that becomes something that we look at.
“We obviously know the circumstances that were out there when we brought Greg in here. Boy, he’s just been a model guy for our football team and is as hard a worker as anybody that we have out there. He certainly has demonstrated day-in and day-out, night-in and night-out how important football is to him.”
- Jones could play a key role in the NFL-to-Los Angeles saga, writes Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com, who notes that Jones is a major supporter of Rams owner Stan Kroenke‘s Inglewood project. Jones and Kroenke are business partners — the two are working on a land development deal in Texas — but a source told La Canfora that the Jones’ business ties play no role in his stance. “Jerry will follow the money (in terms of how he votes for NFL matters), and Jerry is very attracted to the mega-rich,” said the source.
- David Moore of the Dallas Morning News provides an interesting of profile of Jones’ son Stephen Jones, the Cowboys; chief operating officer. The entire piece is a good read, and paints Stephen as something of a calming influence throughout the organization, especially when it came to selecting offensive lineman Zack Martin over Johnny Manziel in last year’s draft.
- Multiple sources tell Jeff Darlington of NFL.com that Washington has used Robert Griffin III — who is now listed as the club’s third-string quarterback — as the scout team safety, a curious decision on multiple levels. For one, RGIII’s 2016 $16.1MM option is guaranteed for injury only, and has seemingly forced Washington to demote him in order to stave of the risk of injury. To employ him as a safety merely for practice’s sake, then, seems like an odd choice.