NFC East Roundup: Reaction To Hardy Signing

Here is our weekly look at what’s happening around the rest of the division.

Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News offers his thoughts on the Cowboys’ decision to add Greg Hardy:

So the next time I hear Jason Garrett talk about bringing “the right kind of guy” into the Cowboys locker room, I’m going to turn my tape recorder off. Then I’m going to politely excuse myself.

After a brief spell of trying to win the right way with high-character players — think Sean Lee, Brandon Carr and Travis Frederick — the Cowboys are now just trying to win. The arrivals of Hardy and Rolando McClain plus the return of Josh Brent are proof of that. That’s a trio I wouldn’t invite over to my house for dinner any time soon.

Here’s how Jerry Jones justified the move, via the Fort Worth Star Telegram:

Hardy has denied his ex-girlfriend’s accusations that during an argument in May he choked her, threw her around and threatened to kill her.

“Obviously a great deal of our study was dedicated to the issue of domestic violence, and the recent events that associated Greg with that issue. We know that Greg’s status remains under review by the National Football League,” Jones said. “Our organization understands the very serious nature of domestic violence in our society and in our league. We know that Greg has a firm understanding of those issues as well.”

Jordan Raanan of NJ.com caught up with Devin McCourty, who said the Giants and Eagles were serious possibilities:

“I thought [Philadelphia] would have a good team. I thought it could be a great situation,” McCourty said Saturday night while playing in the New Brunswick Celebrity Basketball Game for Rutgers alum Antonio Lowery’s charity. “The hardest thing was, one minute if I didn’t go back, I thought I would go [to Philadelphia], but then I also thought I would go to the Giants. New England stepping up made it a lot easier for me.”

The familiarity with the Patriots made it an easy decision. McCourty, 27, knows he can win there.

Ebenezer Samuel of the New York Daily News reports that Giants owner John Mara is alright with their lack of movement during free agency:

One year after handing out more than $114 million in free agent contracts, the Giants have been nearly invisible in free agency in 2015. They’ve added only a handful of role players to a squad that went 6-10, barely giving chase to the big names of this spring.

But Mara doesn’t mind. The Jets and rival Eagles may own the spring back pages, but the Giants have improved without overspending on a free agent class that Mara called “mediocre.”

“I think we helped ourselves,” Mara said Thursday at a Police Athletic League ribbon cutting ceremony in Manhattan. “We’ve still got some holes to fill, but so far so good.”

Mara added that the Giants “still have a long ways to go,” but another free agent bonanza wasn’t the answer.

Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports on the possibility of Washington drafting Marcus Mariota:

Also, nobody buying #Redskins taking Mariota at 5. Belief is Skins are trying to stimulate a trade ahead of 5, pushing another player down.

— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) March 17, 2015

Mike Jones of The Washington Post looks at what the re-signing of Colt McCoy means for the rest of the team’s quarterbacks:

Jay Gruden remains a fan of McCoy, and McCoy remains a fan of Gruden. McCoy passed through the most active period of free agency without signing with another team, and came to the conclusion that this is the best situation for him.

For McCoy, it’s another opportunity in more than one way. He signed a one-year, $1.5 million deal, which represented an increase over last season’s $795,000 salary.

And he gets to return to a situation where he knows the offense, and he knows the coaching staff appreciates his talents. He also knows that late in the season, those coaches had more confidence in him than the more physically gifted quarterbacks on the team, even though more was invested in both [Robert] Griffin and [Kirk] Cousins. McCoy ended the season on injured reserve and it killed him because he really felt like he had the golden opportunity to establish himself as Gruden’s go-to guy. Had he finished the year healthy, and had he played well in the process, he likely would have entered this year as the starter. So, a return to the Redskins felt right to him, and he has to have a good bit of hope that he may get a similar opportunity, and that’s something no other team could offer him.