Mr. Scot

The vast majority of players understand that it's a business. Popular guys get let go on an annual basis from every team in the league. The Panthers aren't unique in that, and any player looking for a team where that doesn't happen is gonna be sorely disappointed. And we don't know that Hardy is 'begging to come back'. The whole 'play for free' thing could easily just be talk. Heck we don't even know how many teammates are actually backing Hardy. Regardless, no front office in the league polls players before making roster decisions, nor should they.

Pretty good chance that if someone else offers Hardy a lot more money than we do, Hardy won't want to be here either.

Players aren't the ones responsible for making roster decisions, and for good reason. Nobody'd ever get let go and everybody'd get paid large salaries (basically what Marty Hurney did). The guys who do make the roster decisions are the ones who don't think they can trust Hardy.

Greg Hardy's likely just going to be allowed to walk via free agency and he'll probably get a pretty good payday wherever he goes. That's something that happens on an annual basis. Ted Ginn, Mike Mitchell, Captain Munnerlyn and others have been allowed to find deals elsewhere in recent years. Others will this year too. Now take Steve Smith, on the other hand, who was proactively cut. If Steve Smith being let go didn't divide the team, what makes you think letting Greg Hardy get paid somewhere else will?

Well yeah, if you excuse anything he does, then there's no pattern. The story about his tweeting the pic while driving was well known and discussed plenty within this forum. Steve Smith was said to have famously ripped him for it at the time. Voth's article about teammates lobbying for him states specifically that "Richardson and others inside the building feel like they can't trust him". No stretch to expect Dave Gettleman is among the "others". Spin it any way you want but no matter what fans think, if Richardson and Gettleman see enough of a pattern that they think Hardy can't be trusted, he's not coming back.

The kind that doesn't trust him to stay out of trouble well enough to earn a big money contract. It's just like how Josh Gordon is a great receiver...when he's not suspended. Guys who are suspended don't help you win a lot of games.

Word from inside the Niners locker room was that his act was wearing thin on a lot of guys. Many people point to the diminishing returns this season as part of that. The whole "constantly yelling and screaming" thing is something that can work pretty well on a group of kids who'll be playing under you for generally four years at most. On a group of paid professional adults with the means to seek out other opportunities, not so much.

Voth gave no names, but he did say it was "team leaders, guys who have (Jerry) Richardson’s ear." He also said this... Not sure how many people read those particular lines in the article. Pretty good odds that "others inside the building" includes Dave Gettleman. Voth is still only giving this a "slim chance". Hardy fans probably shouldn't get their hopes up.

Best wishes from here, sweetie

I actually think Geep (pronounced 'Jeep') Chryst is a good choice for OC. That said, I still think the Niners will suck this year (and probably for a while).

I had a hard time believing he'd survive the Ray Rice fiasco. Granted the league slyly limiting the investigation (i.e. having Mueller refrain from investigating whether there was a cover up) was a clear CYA gesture. Now they can say "see, we had an independent investigation and found nothing", even if they really didn't. But after all that, in a year when the league took more hits than Glass Joe in Mike Tyson's Punch Out, they still paid him 35 million. Something tells me a few fan complaints or boos from the draft audience isn't likely to change their minds.

Wasn't talking about Hardy giving money back. People have suggested that the league should give the Panthers extra cap space as an apology for screwing them over last year. Like I said, delusional. I've been pretty vocal about the league's CYA tactics in the wake of the Ray Rice screwup. To be fair, domestic violence rightly should net a large penalty, but the charge that the league is overcompensating right now could very well have some merit. That ship may right itself down the road, but for now the league has image problems and Hardy is a reminder of them. Beyond that though... Objectively speaking, even without the domestic violence trial, it was going to be highly unlikely that Hardy would stay a Panther this year. He'd already reportedly turned down an 8 million a year offer. Much as I enjoyed having him on the roster, I couldn't have gotten behind a bigger offer than that.

Yeah, you'd have a hard time finding anyone who'd say "oh my gosh, I never suspected".

Denying his constitutional right to play professional football?

That's the thing though. you don't have to love him or hate him. People that are filtering it through that notion are completely missing the point. I'm fine if he's brought back. I'm also fine if he isn't. If you're able to look at the situation objectively, there's way more evidence that he won't be back than there is that he will. It's reality. Scenarios people are posting like the league apologizing to Hardy or giving money back to the Panthers or the Panthers actually franchising Hardy again are just delusional. Some on here don't seem to be able to accept that because they love Hardy the Panther, but they need to realize that after March "Hardy the Panther" may no longer exist.

Reckless motorcycle riding just a few days before camp... Hundred mile an hours in his car, while taking a pic with his phone and tweeting it... That horrendous rap video while he's suspended from the team... Not making any great effort to stay around the team despite being allowed by the league... Going to the strip club rather than supporting his teammates in an important game... Poorly timed marketing of himself... And his other misadventures on social media... Let's face it. We're not exactly talking about a guy with a history of good judgment and decision making.

You forgot the apology.

To be fair, they're in a tough spot. Even the accusation of domestic violence puts guys in a bad spot. And let's be real, regardless of what he's done or not done, Hardy hasn't exactly done a great job of keeping his image above reproach. And they have to defend him. Have you ever had one of those friends you try to defend from something, only to watch him turn around and make an ass of himself all over again? Hardy's that guy, on a grand scale. You can bet loads of women's groups and such will be watching. And fair or not, they'll have expectations.

The league doesn't have to meet a 'court of law' standard of evidence to suspend a player. They'll do a full 'investigation' but in the end, if they want to punish him, they will.

Ben Roethlisberger was suspended without there ever even having been a trial. Roethlisberger is easily ten times as big a star as Hardy (that's being generous, honestly) and the league suffered no consequences. And all of that occurred before the Ray Rice story ever happened. More recently, there's also Adrian Peterson. Do you really think the NFL that can get away with suspending big names like Roethlisberger and Peterson is going to be brought to their knees by Greg Hardy? (pretty sure people in Pantherland are the only ones who'd buy that idea)

His personality is waaaayyyy better suited to college coaching than pro coaching. With the resources Michigan can provide, I think he'll thrive there. As to the 49ers thriving, uuuhhh...

Harbaugh says parting with 49ers wasn't mutual Shocking, right? Who could possibly have seen this coming?

The NFL is not going to apologize to Greg Hardy or the Panthers. Nor are they going to do anything to 'make it up' to either one. They took unusual measures (the exempt list) to keep his name out of the public consciousness while they rewrote the policies that governed domestic violence suspensions. Now, in all likelihood, the full force of those rewritten rules will be used against Hardy. And yes, this will probably happen regardless of whether or not you or anyone else thinks it's fair. Get a grip, guys.

YOU JUST HATE GREG HARDY!!! GOODELL CAN'T DO NOTHIN TO HARDY!!! RELEASE DA KRAKEN!!!

That'd be discriminatory. If following instructions were required, the job could not be given to a guy.