Dorial Green-Beckham, Greg Hardy, and How Dropped Domestic Violence Cases Will Affect NFL Teams' Evaluations

Greg Hardy is still in limbo in the brave new world of the NFL’s PR push on domestic violence after Ray Rice. His domestic violence conviction was vacated, when the accuser could not be found by the prosecution prior to the jury trial. The accuser had reportedly reached a civil settlement with Hardy, after the original bench trial, impacting the ability to make the case. Legally, Hardy is now free and clear.

The NFL, though, does not view that result as dispositive, merely because an alleged victim ultimately failed to cooperate. There is talk of further punishment, perhaps up to a 6-game suspension. As detailed by Andrew Brandt, Hardy sitting out last year on the Commissioner’s Exempt List while getting paid is not seen as precluding punishment, even without a conviction.

dorial green-beckham is rising up draft boards due to his freakish athleticism. If you were lurking on social media yesterday, you likely saw physical comparisons between he and Calvin Johnson. Green-Beckham entered college as the top rated WR, and based on physical attributes and production as a sophomore, he is one of the best available players in the draft.

He also was involved in a domestic violence incident, which contained troubling details. Like with Hardy, there is no conviction. The victim chose not to pursue charges, citing fear of public backlash. Green-Beckham was ultimately kicked off the Missouri football team, and went to Oklahoma. We wrote last summer about the hypocrisy of OU seeking immediate eligibility for Green-Beckham, while suspending running back Joe Mixon for an incident.

It feels like Green-Beckham’s incident happened much longer ago than Hardy’s. In truth, they were separated by barely over a month last spring. Both happened after Ray Rice hit his fiancee in an Atlantic City casino elevator.

Green-Beckham will take to the field at Lucas Oil Stadium this weekend to “oohs” and “ahhs” over his measurables. Hardy, for any number of reasons, is far more tied to the Ray Rice issue and the NFL’s domestic violence charge, even though these two have plenty of similarities.

Back in August, we asked why Ray Rice was getting far more attention than the Greg Hardy case. Though he was not in the crosshairs in August, Hardy became the next front in the domestic violence campaign, once the second Ray Rice video came out. Dorial Green-Beckham–not in the NFL yet, having moved on from his team immediately so that it seems more distant–is not perceived the same way. While the NFL hasn’t shown the greatest consistency in not punishing for college behavior (Terrelle Pryor), Green-Beckham is not likely to draw any official scrutiny from the league office.

So we have this interesting contrast heading into the 2015 offseason, that will illuminate the shifting and developing views on how to handle domestic violence, particularly where the legal system did not punish the player.

By talent and football production alone, Hardy would be considered one of the most sought-after free agents in the league. By talent and football production alone, Green-Beckham would be considered one of the most sought-after picks in this year’s draft. A suspension lingers over the former. Is the latter excused more because he was younger, “enabled, spoiled”?

The feeling here–even beyond the risk of Hardy missing a significant portion of the season–is that Green-Beckham will be more forgiven through the draft silly season process when it comes to teams taking a risk. It didn’t happen on the NFL’s watch, and wasn’t their headache.