Greg Hardy can’t stay out of the headlines -- and he’s not even playing
The Story
Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy has been caught in the headlines three times in the last week:
(1) Trial date: On Monday, his Superior Court trial date on assault charges was set for Feb. 9. Hardy is appealing a lower court’s July conviction on misdemeanor charges that he assaulted his former girlfriend and threatened to kill her. In his new trial, he’ll be tried by a jury, which must be unanimous in its decision.
DA’s Office: Greg Hardy trial set to start in February. http://t.co/BKjGqy1hY2 pic.twitter.com/g2OxBzJKDa
— NBC Charlotte (@wcnc) January 12, 2015
A quick recap: Hardy’s former girlfriend claims he flung her from the bed, threw her into a bathtub, then tossed her on a futon covered with rifles. She said he dragged her by her hair and threatened to kill her. Hardy says she’s erratic and was high that night and acting crazy.
Should be quite the trial.
(2) Getting paid: Even though Hardy wasn’t allowed to play, he still got paid $48,000 for the Panthers playoff win against Arizona. That’s because he was on the NFL’s exempt list. If Carolina had won against Seattle, he would have gotten another $44K. In addition, Hardy has gotten regular paychecks during the season, totaling $11.5 million.
Greg Hardy got his $48,000 share when the Panthers won last weekend. Disgusting. http://t.co/5Kd6Obl2YG
— Melissa Jacobs (@thefootballgirl) January 7, 2015
(3) Ghost in the locker room: The Panthers aren’t expected to re-sign Hardy next year. So on Monday, he quietly cleared out his locker, said a few farewells and then left this note on a team whiteboard:
Greg Hardy left a note for his teammates on the white board for checkout day pic.twitter.com/OCJiF39DD9
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) January 11, 2015
Translation: “I LOVE YOU GUYS ALL J.P. [just playing] GET KRAKEN” “(but mostly [illegible] the Run N Backs & Monster Inc. & the Big Mexicano)”
He’s apparently giving shout-outs to running backs, the defensive line and head coach Ron Rivera.
Greg Hardy’s locker already cleaned out. pic.twitter.com/DKt3NrfDe2
— Steve Reed (@SteveReedAP) January 11, 2015
C5’s Take
Dude has been strutting all over social media, too. We can say this for sure: He’s not shy.
Imagine if he was still on our def “@Pinocchio_Lies: Greg Hardy chilling, enjoying all the free money he getting https://t.co/le4SJcIo5D”
— Christopher Lewis ©♊ (@ChrisDaGemini) January 4, 2015
This story was originally published January 13, 2015 at 1:07 AM with the headline "Greg Hardy can’t stay out of the headlines -- and he’s not even playing."