Someone please just humor me and answer this...

[Anybodyhome]

I believe the Commissioner's Exempt list has some impact on the status of his contract as well. I think he is basically in limbo until the Commissioner takes him off that list. It wouldn't make much sense for him to reach the March 10 contract date, become a free agent and essentially cannot enter into any contract negotiations until such time he's been cleared to talk to teams. 

 

So, even if he is a FA, I don't think anyone can even negotiate with him until he's off "the list."

[Mr. Scot]

I'll throw in...

 

Hardy had a guaranteed one year contract as a franchise player.  They were going to have to pay him regardless of what happened (league suspension likely would have been the only exception) so there really wasn't much point in doing anything regardless of how they felt.

 

But in reality, Coach Rivera (per his own words) would like to have had Hardy back.  And although Dave Gettleman doesn't seem too keen on the idea of having him back now, he also stated at the time Hardy was put on the exempt list that the team "never even considered" suspending him as an option.

 

You can infer from these things that if, for some reason, he had been taken off the exempt list this past season, the team would have brought him back.  And why not?  They were paying him either way, so why not get something out of it?

 

But as it was, he stayed on the list till season's end, and his contract will be up as of March 10th, and it looks highly unlikely that they'll offer him a new one at this point.

[bigdog10]

The "high-character" thing is such a farce. It's the NFL. If you fielded a team full of guys with no records, you'd have the worst team in the history of the league. I also don't think Jerry really cares about that - I think it's something the media has propagated. Hell, the starting quarterback was sanctioned for theft in college. 

 

It's also an incredibly lazy way to run an organization.  Some of these young guys need someone to invest in them and help make them better.  

 

That is one of the great things about the NFL.  It gives some guys the chance to make a great living and impact their current and family situations where otherwise they may not have that chance.

 

By only drafting "good" and "clean" guys, you miss the opportunity to really help make the change.

 

I'm not an advocate of drafting all low character, but with strong leaders in your locker room and a strong coaching staff, i think you can really make an impact on some of these guys.

[tiger7_88]

 

This is why the Panther Org want high character players so they never have to deal with the realities of life, that some time bad sh!t happens to good people

 

Sometimes "good people" = "idiot retards who always seem to get themselves into bad situations and never learn their lesson".

 

I would be perfectly willing to throw the money tree at the "good people" if the "good people" = "idiot retard who finally woke the fug up and changed his life to remove the idiocy, retardation, fug-ups, and the drama". 

 

Unfortunately, its 99.99% likely that is not the case.

[MHS831]

I believe the Commissioner's Exempt list has some impact on the status of his contract as well. I think he is basically in limbo until the Commissioner takes him off that list. It wouldn't make much sense for him to reach the March 10 contract date, become a free agent and essentially cannot enter into any contract negotiations until such time he's been cleared to talk to teams. 

 

So, even if he is a FA, I don't think anyone can even negotiate with him until he's off "the list."

 

This makes sense.  I have no idea, but this seems very logical.

[Mr. Scot]

From what I've read, the Exempt List doesn't extend his contract or anything like that.

 

As soon as March 10th gets here, he's free as a bird.

[Anybodyhome]

From what I've read, the Exempt List doesn't extend his contract or anything like that.

 

As soon as March 10th gets here, he's free as a bird.

 

Not suggesting it "extends" his contract, but there has to be a clause that explains this situation, unless it's just like everything else the Commissioner's office makes up as they go along....

 

But how does his agent, himself or team representatives enter into any negotiations when nobody knows when he gets off of said list? Much like Peterson, who has resolved his legal issues, the Commissioner has decided to keep him on that list. The same could occur with Hardy. Is found not guilty, yet the Commissioner decides he needs to stay on the list, which basically blackballs him from any contract talks.

You're assuming the Commissioner will take him off the list on or by March 10 and you're assuming teams are going to line up to talk to him when no one except the Commissioner knows when he might be allowed to play.

[O-Ther]

Not suggesting it "extends" his contract, but there has to be a clause that explains this situation, unless it's just like everything else the Commissioner's office makes up as they go along....

 

But how does his agent, himself or team representatives enter into any negotiations when nobody knows when he gets off of said list? Much like Peterson, who has resolved his legal issues, the Commissioner has decided to keep him on that list. The same could occur with Hardy. Is found not guilty, yet the Commissioner decides he needs to stay on the list, which basically blackballs him from any contract talks.

You're assuming the Commissioner will take him off the list on or by March 10 and you're assuming teams are going to line up to talk to him when no one except the Commissioner knows when he might be allowed to play.

 

Goodell didn't place Hardy on the exempt list. The Panthers placed Hardy there, but they had to get Goodell's permission to use the exempt status. The exempt status is entirely up to the commissioner to grant or not.

 

In this case, fallout from Ray Rice was affecting the Panthers through no fault of the Panthers. We were figuratively stuck between the union screaming for Hardy's due process and the general public screaming for Hardy's head, so we asked Goodell for permission to put Hardy on the exempt list so both the union and general public were placated. Hardy still got paid since he wasn't suspended, yet he wasn't playing, either.

 

The Panthers still have the rights to Hardy and can remove him from the exempt list whenever they feel like it. The only thing Goodell has control over with the exempt status is giving permission to use it.

 

When the Panthers contract with Hardy expires, he automatically comes off the exempt list, since being on the list requires being on a team.

 

[Mol3m4n]

Goodell didn't place Hardy on the exempt list. The Panthers placed Hardy there, but they had to get Goodell's permission to use the exempt status. The exempt status is entirely up to the commissioner to grant or not.

In this case, fallout from Ray Rice was affecting the Panthers through no fault of the Panthers. We were figuratively stuck between the union screaming for Hardy's due process and the general public screaming for Hardy's head, so we asked Goodell for permission to put Hardy on the exempt list so both the union and general public were placated. Hardy still got paid since he wasn't suspended, yet he wasn't playing, either.

The Panthers still have the rights to Hardy and can remove him from the exempt list whenever they feel like it. The only thing Goodell has control over with the exempt status is giving permission to use it.

When the Panthers contract with Hardy expires, he automatically comes off the exempt list, since being on the list requires being on a team.

If that were the case, the Panthers would have took Hardy off of the list in week 11 when they were going to tali to the NFL about Hardy coming back.

[O-Ther]

If that were the case, the Panthers would have took Hardy off of the list in week 11 when they were going to tali to the NFL about Hardy coming back.

 

That had more to do with Hardy's court date IIRC. They were hoping to get his legal status cleared up around that time, but when the trial was postponed until February, they kept him on it to avoid the public backlash.

 

[Mol3m4n]

That had more to do with Hardy's court date IIRC. They were hoping to get his legal status cleared up around that time, but when the trial was postponed until February, they kept him on it to avoid the public backlash.

I'm still not entirely sure with that.

[Mr. Scot]

If that were the case, the Panthers would have took Hardy off of the list in week 11 when they were going to tali to the NFL about Hardy coming back.

 

In which case the League probably would have suspended him, but they preferred not to go that route because they knew he'd fight it.

 

The Exempt list was essentially a paid suspension.  Sucks for the Panthers, but not such a bad deal for Hardy (13 million to do nothing).  Hardy had to agree to accept it, and he did.

 

If you watched the presser the day they announced it, you could easily tell that Gettleman was angry and Rivera was positively livid.  That was most clear when he said an abrupt goodbye and just walked away from the podium before someone pointed out to him there were still questions about other players to answer.  He then returned to the podium, gave a few quick notes and left again. 

 

See, you have to remember the context of the situation when you're looking at this.  The Ray Rice fiasco was doing major damage to the NFL in the PR department, and they needed anybody who would remind the public of that out of the way ASAP.

 

Make no mistake, there was never a scenario where the League was going to allow Hardy to continue to play.

[O-Ther]

I'm still not entirely sure with that.

 

It's tough for any of us to know for sure what was talked about. Just going with logic that with Hardy's trial around week 11 or 12, the Panthers would be calling the league to ask about what possible suspension/discipline Hardy would face if he was found guilty in his November trial. 1 game, 2 games, 6 games? Lifetime ban?

 

With the new domestic violence policy still being ironed out back in November, we'd naturally want to know what the latest developments were with that. Then the trial got pushed back and made those discussions moot.

 

[t96]

Reality is, unless he really would play for free (vet min) then there's no way we keep him because frankly, we just don't need him and couldn't afford him. Found guilty and he's 100% gone. And nobody really believes that he'd play for free despite what Josh said.