Panthers’ Greg Hardy fine with franchise tag
By Mike Dyce
The Carolina Panthers placed the franchise tag on their defensive end Kraken from Hogwarts, aka Greg Hardy. While some players don’t like the tag, Hardy is excited about the $13.1 million guaranteed.
“We’re going on good faith like we have been this whole time,” Hardy said, via David Newton of ESPN.com. “People have been talking trash about me, talking about blah, blah, blah . . . [I want] bucket loads of cash. Oh, I’m not coming back. I’m full of crap.
“I signed a tender like I said I would. You’re really 100 percent incorrect if you don’t think I’m excited about $13.1 [million].”
It is a big pay raise for Hardy.
“It’s a lot better than a million dollars,” he said. “It’s a lot better than no million dollars. I’m pretty excited about it. It helps that I’m a sixth-round draft pick and ain’t got no money. It’s pretty cool to be the guy they waste a franchise tag on, because you’ve only got one.
“I could see the dislike in it. You don’t get the deal and you do have to play out your thing, but that’s what I’ve been doing for four years. I’m used to it.”
They could still work out a long term deal, but Hardy is fine for now.