Former Carolina Panther Greg Hardy is a free agent and he’s trying his best to repair his image and make himself more marketable to potential NFL suitors, but he may have done just the opposite after a recent interview with ESPN was poorly received by all who viewed it.
Hardy still has a lot of friends on the Panthers – a team where he spent five seasons. And many of his former teammates want to see him do well, including fellow defensive end Charles Johnson, who had some good advice for him via David Newton of ESPN.com.
“He’s a good guy. He just makes bad decisions. I just hope he gets out there and finds a place so he can really prove his talent and show what he’s really all about instead of giving interviews to people about the situation. He should just move on and throw that all the way back, move forward and take it day by day. Don’t do interviews.”
“That’s my friend,” Johnson said. “I ain’t got no other choice but to believe him. Whatever he’s telling me, I’m going to believe that because I’ve got no other choice.”
“But at the same time, you was involved in the incident. So you have to man up to all the situations that you was involved in. So instead of criticizing all the stuff, just man up to all the situation and move on. Face the facts. This was something three years ago, so why are we still talking about it?”
Don’t. Do. Interviews. Don’t. Do. Interviews. Don’t. Do. Interviews.
I’m not sure what type of PR team Hardy has around him or if he has one at all, but sometimes the best thing to do is stay low key, hope things pass over and pray a team gives you another chance. What you don’t do is record rap videos, complain about other player’s with shady pasts who got deals before you, or do interviews with major networks exclaiming your innocence unconvincingly and without remorse for the incident as a whole.
There’s no doubt Hardy is a good football player and maybe a team pressed for help at the defensive end position will give him another chance, but it’s hard to believe, at this point, many organizations will take the risk. Unfortunately, Johnson’s good advice may be too little too late as his attempt at public redemption through that ESPN interview, may have been the nail in his NFL coffin.