Jones: Expectations were too high on Greg Hardy

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says expectations for Greg Hardy were too high and he didn’t live up to them.

Jones still won’t talk about whether the Cowboys have moved on from controversial defensive end.

Hardy is a free agent, but the Cowboys have been purposely silent about whether they will attempt to re-sign him for next season.

“We are not discussing at all any free agents,” Jones said. “He is a free agent. That is not to say he is free from us. He is a free agent.”

Jones acknowledges this as a reversal from his talk during the season when he openly lobbied for a contract extension for Hardy.

“Well, we didn’t do an extension, didn’t get into discussion, whatever you want to do, now then it’s open season,” Jones said.

Jones said Hardy didn’t live up to expectations on or off the field. He was brought in to improve the pass rush, but ended up with only six sacks, while drawing the ire of coach Jason Garrett for frequent tardiness and inappropriate statements on social media and in the media.

Hardy missed 15 games as a member of the Carolina Panthers in 2014 after being placed on the commissioner’s exempt list because of a domestic violence incident.

He also missed the first four games with the Cowboys for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

“I’m reminded time and time again. No matter how great the player. If they haven’t played for a season, it’s impossible for them to come back and play at the level that they may have played prior to that. That alone is dreaming,” Jones said. “You don’t lay off for year or a year and half. Even though you are a great player, you just lose something in getting back when you are laid off.

“We all underestimated the effect of his layoff.”

The Cowboys don’t know Hardy well enough to openly want to bring him back as they do with linebacker Rolando McClain.

“I’m proud of the success McClain has had playing for us, our success with him playing his position. I’m talking about uniquely his position on defense, how he plays the game, what he does,” Jones said. “We just know him better, been around him more. When you really look at it, as much with (Hardy) it’s been just a matter of months that we really worked together.”

Jones acknowledges there is an issue with Hardy regarding his off the field issues and locker room chemistry that won’t go away _ even if he won’t say it.

“I talked about how he was beneficial to our team,” Jones said. “We all agreed that we would have loved to see him have 17 sacks. He was impactful on our defense in his own way.

“Was he impactful to the level that we hoped he might be? I’m going to say it one more time, we underestimated his comeback time after being laid off during that time. We all know this elephant in the room. We understand it. That’s as far as I’m going to go with it.”

This story was originally published March 1, 2016 at 9:58 AM with the headline "Jones: Expectations were too high on Greg Hardy."