Hardy Headed to Washington DC Thursday For Appeal

Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy has been working out at Valley Ranch all offseason and has participated in the first couple of days of organized team activities this week, but he won’t be there on Thursday when he travels to Washington D.C. to have the appeal of his 10-game suspension heard.

Hardy was found guilty of assaulting a female and communicating threats in a bench trial in North Carolina last year. He appealed for a jury trial, got it, and then the charges were dropped when the prosecution couldn’t find the accuser. In March, a month after the charges were dropped, Hardy signed an incentive-laden one-year deal with the Cowboys. A month after that, the 10-game suspension was announced.

Hearing Hardy’s appeal will be Harold Henderson, the man who upheld Roger Goodell’s ruling on Adrian Peterson last year.

No matter the verdict, the Cowboys have always said that they went into the Hardy signing prepared for whatever discipline the league would hand down, and they weren’t exactly shocked when the 10-game suspension was announced.

“I don’t think it turned out any different than what we thought might could happen,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said last month. “I think we structured a contract to deal with that and we knew very well something could. Our eyes were wide open on that.”