Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy has officially appealed his suspension.
The NFL announced last Wednesday that Hardy would be suspended for 10 games without pay for conduct detrimental to the league. But as Hardy already missed 15 games last year--he was paid for the games he missed, however--the NFL Players Association viewed the ruling as overly harsh, and on Friday, filed the appeal on Hardy’s behalf.
In a letter to Hardy last week, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell detailed the findings of a two-month investigation into his case, which found that the 2013 Pro Bowler violated the personal conduct policy in several ways and under aggravating circumstances.
The NFL insists Hardy is being punished under the personal conduct policy that was in place in 2014, when the incident occurred, but the Players’ Association will argue they’re trying to apply newer policies retroactively.
As part of the appeal, the NFLPA requested that a neutral arbitrator be brought in. The league granted a neutral arbitrator in the Ray Rice case, but denied Adrian Peterson that benefit in his case.
