A fallen Panthers standout shocks the league as he walks away from the UFC and targets a bargain-basement deal with the Green Bay Packers to revive a dream he refuses to bury.QQ
Greg Hardy was once considered one of the most dangerous pass rushers in the NFL in a Carolina Panthers uniform, exploding for 15 sacks in a dominant 2013 season. But his talent was quickly buried under a domestic violence scandal that shattered his image and stalled his career. When no team wanted to touch his name anymore, Hardy left the NFL, transitioned to MMA, signed with the UFC, and later tried his hand at boxing. In those arenas, he never came close to recapturing the aura of a defensive star.
After years away from the NFL, Greg Hardy realized what he missed most wasn’t the UFC lights or the boxing bell, but the smell of the grass, the noise in the meeting rooms, and the feeling of firing off the line of scrimmage. Recently, he has returned to football in a serious way: training with private coaches, taking part in closed workouts, and spending hours watching old tape of himself, correcting each step and rush angle. Hardy admits his past is “a stain that’s hard to erase,” but says his passion for the sport is still unfinished and he wants to end his career on the football field, not inside a cage. That’s why, in informal conversations with agents and a few teams, Hardy has declared he is willing to sign any kind of deal, even accepting a salary lower than that of the lowest-paid rookie, as long as he gets a chance to enter training camp, compete on equal footing, and prove he’s still good enough to play at the highest level.
As for Green Bay, the organization insists it is always willing to welcome players who still burn with a passion for the game, as long as they follow team discipline and are ready to start over from scratch. However, when it comes to Greg Hardy, the Packers have made it clear that everything is still in the listening and evaluation phase, and that any final decision will rest with the front office — and with time.
