After a ton of debate about whether or not to re-sign defensive end Greg Hardy to a long term contract, even going as far as to slightly scoff at the idea of using the franchise tag on him, the Carolina Panthers have placed the franchise tag on their Pro Bowl defensive end.

According to Mike Florio from ProFootballTalk.com as well as Adam Schefter from ESPN, the Panthers have decided to go ahead and tag Hardy, which means they’re about to pay him a whole lot of money for one season of play.

Panthers have notified DE Greg Hardy that the franchise tag will be applied to him, per league source.

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 28, 2014

Panthers using franchise tag on DE Greg Hardy, per ESPN source.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 28, 2014

 

This plan isn’t as crazy as it sounds, as it’s possible for the two sides to work out a long-term deal still, but that usually doesn’t happen. What this probably means is that the Panthers have just thrown a ton of cash as Hardy for him to play one more season with them and then bolt next season.

Still, one more season with Hardy at defensive end is hardly a bad thing, but the Panthers had just better hope that he doesn’t get injured or that he doesn’t take getting franchise tagged the wrong way.