National Football League

Greg Hardy faces teammate, Cowboys locker room leak

Published Apr. 27, 2015 9:47 a.m. ET

foxsports

By Brady Quinn

Greg Hardy will soon be fighting off a 10-game suspension enforced by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after a league investigation concluded the evidence that Hardy used physical force against his girlfriend four times was persuasive. Word on the street is there will be appeals and potential law suits after Hardy already sat out all but one game of the 2014 season - although he was on the exempt list and paid for the leave.

Fridays are usually negative league news dump days, but this time an altercation involving Hardy and fellow Cowboys defensive lineman Davon Coleman happened just close enough to the weekend to make but a small NFL media ripple.

Sources say Hardy was encouraging the younger Coleman during a workout in a way that Coleman didn't consider constructive. And then things escalated when Coleman called him a "woman-beater." No fisticuffs were thrown but it garnered enough attention to leak outside the Cowboys' locker room.

A FOX Sports report stated that they "had to be separated by teammates" but Coleman's agent told the Dallas Morning News that it wasn't that big of a deal. He claimed, "I think this is getting blown out of proportion. Nobody had to physically step in and separate them.”

Wherever the truth lies is really besides the point. It's never a good sign for a team when these sorts of stories become public - and in this instance, how quickly they became public. Locker rooms have and always should be considered sacred ground for players. What is said and heard, stays there.

Greg Hardy must realize he will be under a microscope - not only by the media, but by his new teammates as well. He earned the focus because of his off-field conduct, but it will be particularly hot because he's a talented player that now plays for the Cowboys that likes to paints his face like a tiger. The point is, he's the type of player who would be primed for attention without the off-field problems.

Football is an extremely emotional sport. There are bound to be highly emotional opinions of Hardy in that Cowboys locker room for the allegations of putting his hands on a woman. This incident highlights what was bound to be Hardy's "button." It's early and somebody already went for the jugular.

But that doesn't have anything to do with word getting out to the media. That's not a good sign. This is an example of how not to do locker room. Tempers flare. Things happen. But then they are over. Privately. Simple as that. "Two people yelled at each other and one called the other a name" shouldn't be news coming out of an NFL locker room.

It seems archaic or barbaric but so is football, so how can you judge? If you've never been a part of a locker room then you won't understand. I'm not condoning fighting, bullying or anything of the sort. Nor am I defending Greg Hardy or Davon Coleman. But s--t happens and it will continue to based on the nature of the sport and the competitive personalities involved. When it's clearly minor and immediately becomes media chum, somebody is playing by their own rules. That's not team.

Tony Romo came out last week proclaiming Super Bowl ambitions. A big part of making good on those ambitions is overcoming adversity which happens to every team. Knowing that, it's best to avoid the self-inflicted wounds. Considering that Dez Bryant has yet to sign his franchise tag and talks for an extension don't advance, an unhappy Dez Bryant could be an additional source of stress for the locker room.

The potential for problems in both instances is rather predictable. These are the kinds of things the media loves to grab onto and blow up, which can tear a locker room apart. Sometimes the best course of action is for veteran players to openly discuss how these things are going to be handled before there is a problem.

For Greg Hardy's part, he just needs to stay out of the media and concentrate on being the best teammate possible. In another oddball piece of weekend news, Hardy reportedly abandoned his Bentley in high waters. This may just be a string of bad luck, or an indication of poor decision-making. Either way, Hardy needs to find a way out of the headlines ASAP.

Every team faces some sort of internal challenge throughout the course of a season. What will determine the Cowboys' ability to win a Super Bowl will start with how they come together as a team. But the Cowboys need to rein in their horses with some proactive communication long before worrying about getting to Santa Clara, Calif., for Super Bowl 50.

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