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Five Wonders: Greg Hardy's sack total
March, 24, 2015
By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com
IRVING, Texas -- It’s time again for another offseason version of Five Wonders.
Let’s get right to it:
March, 24, 2015
By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com
IRVING, Texas -- It’s time again for another offseason version of Five Wonders.
Let’s get right to it:
- The more Greg Hardy plays, the more he gets paid. The better he plays, the more he gets paid. I wonder just how much he will be able to cash in on the $1.804 million in incentives for sacks. If he gets eight sacks, he will earn $500,000. Ten sacks will get him $1 million. Twelve sacks will get him $1.2 million and 14 sacks will get him $1.804 million. Hardy is looking at a possible suspension for an undetermined amount of games as the NFL investigates the domestic violence charge from last year. Let’s assume the NFL hands out a suspension of 4-6 games. He has shown in the past he can get sacks in bunches. He had seven in the final three games of the 2013 season and 10 in the final eight games. He had 6.5 sacks in Games 4-11 in 2012. If he misses games due to a suspension, then eight would seem to be the most he could reach.
- At some point here soon, we should know the opening week primetime games. The Cowboys are always a draw for the primetime audiences, and I would expect them to have five games once again on ESPN, NBC and NFL Network when the schedule comes out. But for the opener I wonder if they will be matched up with the Philadelphia Eagles. That’s a natural game to start a season anyway, but it’s made juicier by DeMarco Murray’s departure for the Eagles as a free agent. Wouldn’t that be a huge ratings getter to kick off the season? Could the regular-season finale come against the Eagles, too? From 2011-13, the Cowboys were in winner-take-all Week 17 games against NFC East foes.
- Hardy has shown the ability to play all over the defensive line in his career. With the Cowboys, I’d expect him to line up mostly at right defensive end, but I wonder what they do at the other defensive end spot. Jeremy Mincey was the starter at right defensive end in 2014 and led the Cowboys with six sacks. He is a stout run defender as well, which makes a move to the left side seem plausible. But what about DeMarcus Lawrence? When the Cowboys drafted him, it was as a right defensive end. They see distinct differences in the needs and wants of the position. Lawrence is stout enough to play on the left side, but he will have to be more disciplined in his approach. Mincey’s experience might give him an edge, but Lawrence has the upside.
- The Cowboys have been good friends with Hard Knocks over the years. They did the show in 2002 and they did it again in 2008. I wonder if they volunteer for duty in 2015. Last year the NFL owners decided they could force a team to take part in the show if a franchise does not volunteer provided the team doesn’t have a first-year head coach, hasn’t been in the playoffs in the past two seasons and has not appeared on Hard Knocks in the past 10 years. Think of the storylines around the Cowboys: Can they repeat their 2014 success? Who replaces DeMarco Murray? Will Dez Bryant be in camp? And then there’s the Hardy situation. OK, I don’t really wonder if they do this, but it would be good TV, right?
- I wonder when the Cowboys look at extending the contract of defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford. He is in the final year of his contract and is one of those young players teams want to keep around for years to come. In the past, the Cowboys have found ways to keep those kinds of players, but last year let Bryant and Murray play out their contracts. The Cowboys gave Bryant the franchise tag and let Murray walk when the money got too big. The Cowboys have to rebuild their defensive line and can’t be in a position to let young players go that they have developed over the years. Coming up with the right price might be tricky because there is still some projecting to do on what Crawford could be, but it’s something they should consider.