Cowboys' Mincey admits tension grew in locker room after Greg Hardy's arrival
Dallas Cowboys defensive end Jeremy Mincey didn't hold back when asked his opinion on his teammate Greg Hardy.
Mincey defended Hardy during an interview with KDFW 4 in Dallas, calling him "misunderstood," but confirmed that he had an adverse affect on the Cowboys' locker room.
"I have to deal with him, and being that you have to deal with him, I grew accustomed to a misunderstood person and I got to know him a little better than a lot of people did," said Mincey. "It was tough. It was tough. You know, you got this guy, who you want to be a leader, and then you got that guy. It was just too much."
Hardy signed a one-year deal with the Cowboys this past offseason, meaning the team will now have decide whether they want to retain the controversial defensive end.
However, Mincey believes the negative change Hardy brought to Dallas wasn't worth the production he brought to the field.
"Yeah it grew. It grew. It definitely grew. I hate (that) it happened - you talk about a team that was so close knit and tight and all of a sudden it was just different," said Mincey when asked if tensions increased due to Hardy's behavior. "I wouldn't say that he's the reason for that happening, but sometimes change, sometimes if it ain't broke, don't fix it. You know what I mean?
"And sometimes with change, the team is different. Regardless of how great this athlete is and regardless of this and that, if they're not mentally on the same page, you're not going to get the same results."
Hardy sat out the entire 2014 season on the commissioner's exempt list after a domestic violence incident, and was suspended for the first four games of the 2015 season.
His controversies traveled with him to Dallas, where he was involved with several incidents with teammates and was repeatedly reprimanded for tardiness and inappropriate behavior off the field. Hardy registered six sacks during the season and only 1.5 in the last six games.
Mincey, who will also be a free agent in the offseason, thinks it would wiser for Dallas to choose him over Hardy in order to provide a better example to younger players.
"I think it will be good for the younger guys, which I don't know how they feel about him personally, I mean I haven't spoken to them or asked," said Mincey. "It would be me or him, you see what I'm saying? It would be either or. It's hard to have two type of line mentality guys in one room, so it's tough to figure out who the younger guys are going to follow."