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SALT LAKE CITY — It was close, Salt Lake Screaming Eagles fans turned down the option the team gave of signing Greg Hardy, a former NFL star once suspended for domestic abuse in 2015.
Online voting on the team's website ended late Wednesday night in a virtual tie. However, team officials say fans turned down the option of signing him with a 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent vote.
In a post on the team’s website earlier Wednesday, the Screaming Eagles, a new expansion franchise of the Indoor Football League, said Hardy wanted to sign the team. The team is known for allowing its fans to make decisions — from free agent signings in the front office to play calls on the field.
So voting went to the fans on whether the team should sign the troubled former NFL star.
“We knew how serious this was as a decision to make and we wanted our fans to make sure we put them in the right place to make this decision, said Screaming Eagles director of football operations Ray Austin Wednesday afternoon as voting commenced.
Austin said the team had reached out to various individuals before putting up the measure to vote. He said he believed Hardy would have suited up for the team's next game Friday against Colorado if fans voted for him to join the team.
“We talked to all the right people. We talked to some internal people in the community of Salt Lake City," Austin said. "I reached out to some of my old teammates that actually had a chance to play with him. I reached out to some old coaches that I knew that I respected, so we just wanted to make sure it was the right move us as an organization but specifically for our team too.”
Hardy’s statistics on the gridiron are as impressive as anyone’s in the NFL could have: 40 career sacks in six seasons with the Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys. He also has 238 tackles, one interception and eight forced fumbles in career 75 games. He was even selected to the Pro Bowl in 2013.
However, off-field issues have overshadowed his career. Hardy was charged with domestic violence in a 2014 case but those charges were later dropped when Hardy’s ex-girlfriend could not be located for the trial in 2015.
According to various reports, Mecklenburg County (North Carolina) district attorney Andrew Murray said Hardy’s ex-girlfriend made herself “completely unavailable” for the trial, and she and Hardy reached an out-of-court settlement.
While the charges were dropped, Deadspin published previously unreleased photos police had taken of Hardy’s ex-girlfriend after the attack in 2014, as well as police reports and interview transcripts in the case.
According to those documents, Hardy’s ex-girlfriend said Hardy choked her and threatened to kill her.
The Panthers chose not to re-sign Hardy in 2015. Hardy eventually signed with the Cowboys instead. The NFL suspended Hardy for 10 games that year because of the domestic violence case, but that was later reduced to four games.
Hardy played one season for the Cowboys, but the team opted not to re-sign him after the 2015 season and he sat out the entire 2016 season. Hardy was arrested for cocaine possession in September 2016 and pleaded guilty in the case earlier this month.
Austin said Hardy reached out to the Screaming Eagles last week.
“There was interest shown on both sides,” Austin said, noting a “familiar connection” between the team and Hardy. “They had shown interest in playing with the Screaming Eagles and, of course, with this type of decision — it was a major, major decision for us and so we wanted to sit down and take some time with it.”
The idea of Hardy returning to the gridiron sparked mixed reaction from fans Wednesday.
While several fans posted their support of Hardy and giving him a second chance at the bottom of a post asking for fan votes, several others spoke out against it.
“I plan on seeing my first game this Friday but not with this guy playing. I will get a refund. Time to stop arrogant athletes who break the law and think they can just keep doing it,” one fan wrote.
“There's a reason no NFL team will touch him, even though he's talented. The Screaming Eagles shouldn't sign him either,” another wrote.
Austin said prior to the final result that the team will respect the fans' decision, as it does on the gridiron.
“We all stand together, the fans stand with us,” Austin said. “Every time a fan calls a bad play, we have to stick with that win or loss. That’s the thing that makes everyone accountable for this decision and every decision we make. … We’re all responsible for making these decisions.”
Contributing: Cleon Wall
