And one prominent player already has spoken out against Hardy. It also just so happens to be a former teammate of Hardy's with the Carolina Panthers.
Steve Smith Sr., who played with Hardy from 2010 to 2013 with the Panthers, apparently isn't buying his claim that he "never put his hands on any women" in the interview with ESPN.
 | @89SteveSmith | |
So I guess she Tripped on the carpet or something... my mom is a Survivor #DV and I am ... sqor.com/posts/7d944386… pic.twitter.com/YMgXEJuAfi
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This is significant for a few reasons.
One, you rarely hear players call each out in this type of straightforward way, much less former teammates. NFL players might be in incredibly diverse group, and it might be comprised of rich, famous and emboldened young men, but this type of criticism is a bit out of the norm.
Another reason this is notable is that the NFL has taken as much of a hit from the spate of domestic abuse cases the plagued the league as the accused themselves have. It probably isn't a bad thing, from the NFL's perspective, that one prominent player is policing another one. That appears to shift the onus onto Hardy, who remains unemployed despite being in his prime — and perhaps for good reason.
The graphic evidence from the case showed an accuser who appeared to be badly beaten or hurt, one way or other. Don't count Smith as a believer of Hardy's story that nothing happened and that he has no blame for said abuse. After all, charges were only dropped against Hardy after his accuser accepted a settlement and chose not to testify against him.
Abuse is best handled and avoided in the future when there is no tolerance. From the media, from the league, from fans and from players alike. That does include Smith and would in theory include Hardy, but he remains in denial mode about any role he might or might not have had on the night in question that initially got him suspended 10 games and initially convicted on two counts of domestic violence before the case was later dropped.
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