Cory's Corner: Checkered pasts aren't worth the risk in the NFL

I think NFL teams finally are getting the message with the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy.

And the Cowboys understood firsthand. They rolled the dice with Greg Hardy. His talent and athletic ability make him one of the better defensive ends in the league.

However, what the Cowboys got were quotes like this. “I will stop you there and say that I didn’t say that I didn’t do anything wrong. That situation occurred and that situation was handled but … saying that I did nothing wrong is a stretch but saying I am innocent is correct.

But we all knew that Jerry Jones is pretty good at taking risks — no matter what the off-field situation is like. That doesn’t happen with the Packers. Why? Mainly because general manager Ted Thompson would rather have a player that barely makes the roster that’s clean vs. an out-of-galaxy talent that is peppered with problems.

There’s still time for the 27-year-old Hardy to change. He must accept the fact that he is wrong and own up to making a huge mistake with domestic violence.

This isn’t about being the morality police. It’s about knowing basic sensibilities and following them. In the last two years, women have been the target of men of so many pro leagues.

Commissioners from the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL must get together and make a stand vs. women. The language not only needs to be easily understood but they all need to understand how important moms are for importing future talent into the respected sport.

Hardy will be signed by another NFL team, but he’s going to sweat it out all summer. And if that team hears another Hardy press conference proclaiming that he didn’t do anything wrong, then it’s on them.

Drafting guys with a smart and polished pedigree may seem a little boring when glancing at the player’s height and weight.

However, Thompson is willing to take that risk just so that he doesn’t have in-season headaches over a guy that cannot stay on the field.

 

 

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Cory Jennerjohn is a graduate from UW-Oshkosh and has been in sports media for over 15 years. He was a co-host on "Clubhouse Live" and has also done various radio and TV work as well. He has written for newspapers, magazines and websites. He currently is a columnist for CHTV and also does various podcasts. He recently earned his Masters degree from the University of Iowa. He can be found on Twitter: @Coryjennerjohn

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Comments (19)

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Since'61's picture

May 31, 2016 at 10:00 am

Deleted

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PortlandMark's picture

May 31, 2016 at 09:39 am

Did you mean Quarless and his gun? I wasn't aware of Hayward having an incident with a gun.

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Packer_Pete's picture

May 31, 2016 at 09:28 am

If you honestly think that Hardy (or any of the other douche bags) will change then I think you are wrong, He is not 17 anymore... With 27, I doubt anybody will change. Your choices will become a little better and wiser, but overall nobody that age will truly change anymore. At least I've never seen it. Inside, he'll always be the same jerk that he has always been, and small things can and will trigger his rage issues...

I am glad NFL teams (and other franchises in different sports) are starting to take a harder stance on domestic violence and other crimes. Those have absolutely no place in our society. I hope all organizations, professional or no, will follow suit...

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TarynsEyes's picture

May 31, 2016 at 10:38 am

The second chance was once something that needed to be proved before being re-awarded the same employ/station but became an infringement on the rights of that very person who committed the crime thus is awarded said second chance simply because or in football, the win at all cost and dam morality, the use of I didn't know it was illegal/wrong or the more efficient use of the standard pre-written apology which is more readily handed out to those faster than toilet paper dispensed from a roll.
Many believe one's talent and or station deserves the second chances because of what they supply, however, entertainment is not a life need but something that helps those trying times but has become falsely embedded as a need to life. : )

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Lphill's picture

May 31, 2016 at 11:54 am

Adrian Peterson should be banned from football for what he did .

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jeremyjjbrown's picture

May 31, 2016 at 02:43 pm

He does not seam to be sorry for what he did either.

If a guy realizes he made a mistake and really wants the change (like Guion probably) it's different from a psychopaths like Adrian Peterson and Greg Hardy.

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PaulRosik's picture

May 31, 2016 at 01:06 pm

The problem remains that fans are still way too likely to be all for the harsh punishment of the "thug" on an opposing team but all for giving the poor, misunderstood soul on their own team a second chance.

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sonomaca's picture

May 31, 2016 at 05:19 pm

Certain teams don't care much about the risk: Dallas, Cincy, SF, and Denver come to mind. I'm glad I don't have to support any of those. I'm proud that we have an organization that doesn't sign or draft bad apples.

I'm glad Quarles is gone. I was glad when Walden was out the door. Not sure why the kept Guion around. Wouldn't have shed too many tears had he been allowed to walk.

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ricky's picture

May 31, 2016 at 05:20 pm

Koren Robinson doesn't count? Remember, one of the questions asked after he was signed by the TT Packers was how would he feel if Robinson killed someone while driving drunk.

Though the worst collection of thugs was during the Forrest Gregg tenure. Anyone else remember Gregg defending Mossy Cade?

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Rossonero's picture

May 31, 2016 at 07:35 pm

In general, yes it's not worth the risk, but even the conservative Packers believe in second chances. Examples include Johnny Jolly, Letroy Guion, Koren Robinson, Erik Walden and Colt Lyerla.

I'm sure the Packers carefully consider if the player takes responsibility for his mistake(s), shows remorse and commits that it will never happen again. It's a calculated risk and depends on the mistake.

If the player has some type of relationship and logged a year or two with the team, they tend to get a longer leash. If they come in with a checkered past and screw up (i.e. Lyerla) then the leash is short.

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TommyG's picture

May 31, 2016 at 08:02 pm

"Commissioners from the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL must get together and make a stand vs. women"

I'm sure the author meant "a stand for women" or "a stand against violence towards women". Surely he doesn't mean that these commissioners should stand against women.

Teams have figured out something about players with checkered pasts. They have figured out that, if the player is talented enough, that they are in a no-lose situation. If the talented player stats out of trouble and performs well then the GM and team are heroes. If the player is talented and reoffends then the team gets to cut him under the conduct policy and stop paying him. There is no downside to the signing within the franchise or the fandom of that team. AP beat his kid. Fans all over the league were screeming (for a moment), but the Vikings fans weren't; or if they were they were doing so only for show.

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3rdigraphics's picture

May 31, 2016 at 08:40 pm

If you can play you'll make somebody's roster. Talent trumps all in professional sports. Ted would NEVER pick up a guy like this but all it takes is one team who thinks they can reel him in and change him.

First team that comes to mind is New England, but I don't know if even Belichick would or could reign this guy in.

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3rdigraphics's picture

May 31, 2016 at 08:40 pm

If you can play you'll make somebody's roster. Talent trumps all in professional sports. Ted would NEVER pick up a guy like this but all it takes is one team who thinks they can reel him in and change him.

First team that comes to mind is New England, but I don't know if even Belichick would or could reign this guy in.

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4thand1's picture

June 01, 2016 at 05:23 am

People do change, but they have to be willing. I don't see any willingness with this guy.

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WinUSA's picture

June 01, 2016 at 12:51 pm

Thompson and the Packers will push if not exceed the "High moral character" stereotypes their great PR department portrays.

Jolly and drugs, Guion and drugs, Pernell and drugs Historically the Packers only time that they couldn't turn the cheek was when Chewy was thrown to the dogs...Lofton and Ivory, remember that? What about Davenpoop, Underwood?

There isn't a bigger Packer fan than myself. But let’s look at reality. The Packers have dirty sheet just like any other NFL team. These men are the modern version of gladiators. They have their polished helmets and nifty uniforms, introduced to the fans on game day with smoke, bands paying, cheerleaders dancing and much more hooplala- it makes money!

The fact is many; many of these players are big, nasty, and mean people that are bound to get into some type of trouble. Trouble that too many times is passed with the pet phrase: "It was a learning experience". That's just the way it is. The Packers are no better or no worse...you don't want the Michelin mascot playing for your team...fans WANT these chiseled warriors...

Yes, Jerry Jones is probably the leader of the bunch when it comes to getting absolutely the dredge of society to play for his team...usually they are 5 star talents...but again it's all about money.

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marpag1's picture

June 01, 2016 at 04:14 pm

Corey, I don't know what you have against research and factual information, but unless you learn that writing involves work, these articles are always going to suck.

If you and your friend Google had held hands for 30 seconds, you could have done a search for "NFL arrests" and found that the internet is littered with factual information. Both USA Today and the San Diego Union Tribune (among many others) maintain comprehensive databases of arrests and citations for NFL players. You can paste the information into an Excel spreadsheet and sort it any way you want. You might even learn something from it.

I understand that arrests are not the only measure of being a bad egg. But I do think it's pretty accurate to say that bad characters tend to get arrested a bit more often than choir boys.

If you look at actual data, you'll find that Green Bay has been almost perfectly ordinary over the past 15 years or so. They are certainly not paragons of virtue, nor do they throw caution to the wind and sign mass murderers.

For example, from the beginning of the 2010 season until now, there are 17 out of 32 teams that have the same number of arrests or fewer than Green Bay. The average number of arrests over that span was 8.9, and Green Bay had 8.

From the year 2000 until now, there are 15 out of 32 teams that have had the same number of arrests or fewer than Green Bay. The average number of arrests was 25.5 and Green Bay had 21.

Pretty ordinary, wouldn't you say?

Dallas and that soul-less Jerry-monster, on the other hand - the team you seem to want to vilify - has been LOW in the number of arrests. Since 2010, Dallas has had the same number of arrests as Green Bay (8). Since 2000, only four teams out of 32 had fewer arrests than Dallas' 17.

Here is a list of all 32 teams. The first number represents the number of arrests since 2010. The second column shows the number of arrests since 2000.

HOU 2 / 13
WAS 3 / 21
SD 3 / 26
NYG 4 / 14
MIA 4 / 30
NE 5 / 20
PHI 6 / 15
BUF 6 / 18
CAR 6 / 21
PIT 6 / 24
NO 6 / 25
KC 6 / 31
LAR 7 / 14
JAX 7 / 33
DAL 8 / 17
ARI 8 / 20
ATL 8 / 20
GB 8 / 21
OAK 9 / 21
SEA 9 / 24
TEN 9 / 36
DET 10 / 18
NYJ 11 / 19
CHI 11 / 31
SF 13 / 23
CIN 13 / 43
BAL 15 / 26
IND 15 / 33
CLE 16 / 31
TB 16 / 35
MIN 17 / 48
DEN 18 / 46

All of this makes the following quotation pretty laughable:

"But we all knew that Jerry Jones is pretty good at taking risks — no matter what the off-field situation is like. That doesn’t happen with the Packers. Why? Mainly because general manager Ted Thompson would rather have a player that barely makes the roster that’s clean vs. an out-of-galaxy talent that is peppered with problems."

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WinUSA's picture

June 01, 2016 at 03:39 pm

Marpag1: An absolutely outstanding post! These folks should take heed in your journalism! Kudos

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4thand1's picture

June 01, 2016 at 06:05 pm

LMAO! The viqueens take the prize!

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Flow49's picture

June 02, 2016 at 07:08 am

Unfortunately I don't believe Hardy being unsigned has much to do with his domestic violence incident. The Cowboys took the brunt of that. He's not signed because he can't play nice with his team, fellow players and coaching staff. If he came to meetings and listened to coaches he'd have been signed very quickly.

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