Greg Hardy
Adam Hagy-Imagn Images
It’s been around a decade since Greg Hardy’s NFL career came to an end after he was charged with the disturbing assault of his girlfriend. Now, the wide receiver is back behind bars in the wake of an alleged attack on a member of his family.
Football is an inherently violent sport, so it’s not necessarily surprising that the NFL has managed to attract more than a few players who aren’t able to flip that switch when they’re off the field.
The league was roundly and rightfully criticized for dragging its feet when it came to disciplining Ray Rice after a video of him punching his fiancée in an elevator surfaced in 2014, and he’s just one of the dozens of players who’ve been charged with domestic violence over the past decade or so.
Greg Hardy met the same fate just a few months after Rice when the defensive end was charged over an incident where he was accused of assaulting his girlfriend and threatening to kill her during an argument.
He was convicted before appealing the decision and ultimately escaped any legal ramifications after she declined to testify, and while the Panthers initially allowed him to play the first game of the 2014 season, the backlash to that move contributed to the decision to drop him from the roster.
The Cowboys also courted controversy by signing him the following year for a campaign where he served a four-game suspension stemming from the arrest, but his NFL career came to an end after six seasons before he made the on-the-nose decision to pivot to mixed martial arts.
Hardy was arrested for the possession of cocaine in 2016, but he managed to stay out of legal trouble while navigating an MMA career where he ended up making it to the UFC and had a 7-5 record as a pro before it seemingly came to an end in the wake of three consecutive losses (two via TKO and another that ended in a knockout).
According to TMZ, Hardy ended up back in jail on Wednesday afternoon after being charged with assault causing bodily injury to a family member. The outlet didn’t report where the incident took place but noted he was held overnight ahead of a bond hearing scheduled for Thursday where more details will presumably come to light.
We’ll keep an eye out for additional information and provide an update once we have some.