Remind me again why Rice is considered persona non grata in the NFL, while Hardy will be welcomed back with open arms on Sunday.
For quite some time, I’ve been disturbed that Ray Rice has received the lion’s share of blame in this department. What Rice did was unquestionably wrong, but he has also done about everything that could be expected to show remorse for his actions and work on making himself a better man. In contrast, Hardy has continued to show no shred of such decency.
Christine Brennan’s closing question quoted above is a bit rhetorical, but I think it’s still deserves an answer:
- Rice was caught on video, and Hardy wasn’t.
- Still, there is a defensible football argument to be made that Rice’s skills were prepped for a decline after six years of heavy duty with the Ravens, particularly his 3.1 average on 660 yards in his last season there.
It will be interesting to see how Hardy performs in Dallas, and what happens after his one-year deal there expires. Will memories of his past fade away? I’m not thrilled to discover what the answer will be.