There are some players, no matter how talented they are, that just should not be playing in the National Football League (see Rice, Ray). Greg Hardy is quickly putting himself into that same category as someone who the NFL does not need playing.

It was well documented this offseason that Hardy was in a court battle over his domestic abuse incident involving his girlfriend. Hardy received a 10-game suspension from the NFL for the 2015 season, which he appealed and was then reduced to four games.

Hardy has been back on the field for only a limited time and he has made his presence felt. He picked up eight tackles and three sacks in his last two contests. However, it has been the impact Hardy has made off the field that is much more noticeable.

Obviously, Hardy is a man with character issues. Anyone who assaults his girlfriend and then defends it as if it wasn’t his fault has character issues. That was a risk for the Cowboys as soon as they signed him. Hardy is certainly a controversial figure but Dallas seemed to brush that aside.

Convincing yourself that you will be able to control a volatile player is a poor idea. The Cowboys clearly thought they had a handle on Hardy and boy were they wrong.

Somehow, Hardy walked away from this without a fine, suspension or any punishment from the team. That has to leave most fans scratching their heads and wondering why.

Well at least the Cowboys aren’t praising him for this kind of behavior, right?

Hold the phone, after all of that, Dallas not only isn’t having a reaction to Greg Hardy’s outburst, they want to give him a contract extension? Jerry Jones has seriously lost his mind here. In watching that first video of Hardy’s outburst from last Sunday, it is clear that he is a locker room cancer. He got into a fight with star wide receiver Dez Bryant over the issue. It seemed as though Bryant was telling Hardy that he was out of line and needed to respect the coaches. Bryant has never been the best at following team rules so if he thinks that Hardy is overboard then you know something is wrong.

It also shows how much Hardy only thinks about himself. He isn’t a team player at all and decided to take his anger out on a coach. If I were the Cowboys front office, I would’ve already suspended him for conduct detrimental to the team. Hardy is a menace of a player and not in a positive way.

If Dallas is unwilling to make the proper decision here, then the NFL needs to step in. Verbal confrontation with a coach is one thing but Hardy’s physical retaliation should be more than enough to warrant at least a fine. In all honesty, Hardy shouldn’t even be playing right now in the first place because his suspension should never have been overturned so I’m surprised that the league isn’t jump all over this situation.

Making excuses for players that have talent coupled with poor attitude can tear apart a team. We saw it happen to the 2012 Jets with Santonio Holmes. Jim Harbaugh turned out to alienate the entire locker room last year. Brandon Marshall even took shots at Jay Cutler over the last two years. Team’s can implode if they are distracted off the field issues. The Cowboys already sit at 2-5. You would think they’d realize that they need to turn things around.

It is not easy to punish a top player like Hardy when he is doing so much for your team on the field. But the Cowboys need to step up and take a stand. If they let this continue, Hardy becomes bigger than the team and gets to play by his own rules.

I’m tired of watching Greg Hardy be a bully. Hopefully, the NFL is too.