Jeremy Mincey: Would be tough for Cowboys to bring back Greg Hardy
The Dallas Cowboys went to great lengths to explain their thinking on the controversial signing of Greg Hardy and how they didn’t expect problems to arise in the locker room.
Two things happened this season, other than the team losing eight fewer games than it did the season prior: One, the Cowboys stopped making excuses for Hardy the longer the season went on, and two, the chemistry issues became too tough to ignore.
Defensive lineman Jeremy Mincey said via KDFW 4 that the issues with Hardy most certainly were evident by season’s end.
“Yeah it grew. It grew. It definitely grew,” Mincey said. “I hate it happened — you talk about a team that was so close knit and tight and all of a sudden it was just different. I wouldn’t say that he’s the reason for that happening, but sometimes change, sometimes if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. You know what I mean? And sometimes with change, the team is different.
“Regardless of how great this athlete is and regardless of this and that, if they’re not mentally on the same page, you’re not going to get the same results.”
So bringing back Hardy would be pretty tough in Mincey’s opinion?
“Yeah, it will be — I think it will be good for the younger guys, which I don’t know how they feel about him personally, I mean I haven’t spoken to them or asked,” he said. “It would be me or him, you see what I’m saying? It would be either or. It’s hard to have two type of line mentality guys in one room, so it’s tough to figure out who the younger guys are going to follow. Of course they’re going to look up to a go who’s a prolific player. But I just understand the game, and I know what it takes to win.”
We try to remind our readers all the time in these cases: This is one player’s opinion. He’s not a star. Heck, he’s not even a quarterback. And he most certainly is not Jerry Jones or Jason Garrett. Mincey likely will not be asked his opinion on whether Hardy will be back, and — heck — Mincey, a free agent himself, might not even be back.
“Well, it’s probably a 50-50 chance,” he said. “I hopefully want to return, for the fans — I want to return. But they are going younger. I don’t really know the grand scheme, but hopefully I am in the plans.”
But a seasoned veteran is saying that a controversial, troubled player did not mesh in the Cowboys’ locker room and did not appear to go out of his way to appease his bosses or tread lightly. That counts for something.
“I have to deal with him, and being that you have to deal with him, I grew accustomed to a misunderstood person and I got to know him a little better than a lot of people here. It was tough. It was tough. You know, you got this guy, who you want to be a leader, and then you got that guy. It was just too much,” Mincey said.
The Cowboys might agree on that “too much” part. Jones’ and Garrett’s story certainly changed as the season wore on, to the point where Hardy coming back appears far from certain.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
