Panthers Deactivate DE Greg Hardy After Guilty Verdict In Domestic Violence Case

Carolina Panthers DE Greg Hardy won’t be going up against the Detroit Lions today because he’s been placed on the inactive list. 

Back in July, Hardy was found guilty of assaulting his ex-girlfriend Nicole Holder, and threatening to kill her with one of his 30 rifles. You may remember the incident, which occurred in May, was sparked by Hardy not being able to get over Nicole Holder’s shortlived romance with rapper Nelly. Holder suffered bruises on her head, neck, back, shoulders, arms, legs, elbow and feet after Hardy slammed her into a tile bathtub area. She says he choked her, pulled her by her hair and made other threats, threatening to break her arms and legs. Even with all of this and a guilty verdict, two days ago Panthers coach Ron Rivera said he was going to start Hardy. No word on what changed his mind. Backlash from the Ray Rice situation? 

Hardy plans to appeal the guilty verdict and is due back in court on November 17th. On Friday Rivera said, “We are in a process and we’re letting the process play its way out. Because of that, we’re following through with the situation, set of circumstances. We’re not trying to do anything below board or way above board.” Well, I wonder what changed between then and now. Either way, though Hardy will not be taking the field he will still be paid this week. Not sure how long he will remain inactive but I’d be interesting in seeing if he gets suspended like Rice.