Nothing like a good old fashion dead-season debate on a Sunday morning, right?
Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport named the biggest mistake of the decade for each NFL team, with the Cowboys’ signing of Greg Hardy earning that “honor.” Gary made the point that while the last decade in Dallas has been a disappointment in total, the debacle which was Greg Hardy was too messy to ignore.
“Hardy’s time in Dallas was a mess from the get-go. The Dallas Morning News‘ Brandon George reported he was regularly late for meetings, and he made odd comments about Gisele Bundchen (Tom Brady’s wife) and had a confrontation with Dez Bryant on the sideline after shoving a Cowboys assistant.”
Now, there’s a few mistakes that come to mind which could be considered as America’s Team biggest blunder of the 2010’s. For one – you could argue they held onto Jason Garrett for far too long, potentially costing some talented rosters chances at Super Bowl runs.
The Cowboys also traded up for Morris Claiborne in the 2012 NFL Draft, who despite becoming a solid pro later on, never lived up to his first round hype. Speaking of draft day mistakes, the Cowboys also passed on TJ Watt for Taco Charlton back in 2017, a move which they may never live down in the eyes of this fanbase.
But despite all of those mistakes, it’s hard to argue with Gary’s points about Greg Hardy here. The Dallas Cowboys thought they had found a market inefficiency, signing a premier pass rusher on the cheap due to his off the field issues and domestic violence case. But it turned out (as they should’ve guessed beforehand) that Hardy was not in the right mind frame to be on an NFL roster.
Prior to joining the Cowboys, Hardy missed the entire 2014 season due to that domestic violence case. His time in Dallas did not turn criminal like it did in Carolina, but there were plenty of tumultuous moments.
Looking back, he should’ve never been signed in the first place.
