NFL PLAYER NEWS

Cowboys sign DE Hardy

The Sports Xchange

March 18, 2015 at 4:41 pm.

Greg Hardy. (Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports)

The Dallas Cowboys and free agent defensive end Greg Hardy agreed to a one-year deal Wednesday after two days of negotiations.

Pro Football Talk reported the deal for the former Carolina Panthers Pro Bowler carries a salary of $750,000, but he earn up to a total of $13.1 million through a series of per-game roster bonuses, incentives, and workout bonus. Hardy can earn a workout bonus of $1.3116 million, $9.25 million in per-game roster bonuses and $1.8044 million in incentives based on sacks. The pregame roster bonus is $578,125.

What counts against the salary cap is base salary, plus workout bonus, plus one game of per-game bonus for a cap hit of $2.64 million.

According to ESPN, the deal is for $11.3 million that could be worth up to just over $13 million.

The Cowboys confirmed the signing Wednesday afternoon on Twitter: “Welcome to the Cowboys Greg Hardy!”

Earlier in the day, agent Drew Rosenhaus told multiple media outlets that his client would choose between the Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Bucs general manager Jason Licht later told the Tampa Bay Times they were no longer pursing Hardy.

“At the end of the day, we didn’t feel good about it,” Licht told the newspaper.

Rosenhaus tweeted the news after the agreement with Dallas: “Congrats to Greg Hardy on joining the Cowboys! Thanks to Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones and the Cowboys organization.”

The Cowboys hosted Hardy on Tuesday and he stayed overnight before taking a physical Wednesday.

Hardy, who was a 2013 Pro Bowl selection after leading the Panthers with 15 sacks, could be facing an NFL suspension after missing 15 games last season.

Hardy played in the season opener in 2014 and made $13.1 million under the franchise designation. The 26-year-old Hardy was arrested and charged with assaulting and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend, Nicole Holder, in May and was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list in September. All charges were dropped on Feb. 9 because Holder refused to cooperate with the district attorney’s office after reportedly receiving a financial settlement from Hardy.

Hardy was placed on the inactive list before the second game this past season and the commissioner’s exempt list before the third game.

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