Are the Raiders interested in Greg Hardy or not? Reports outside of Oakland have linked the Raiders to Hardy, but the team spent the better part of today aggressively denying those reports.
This much we know. Someone inside the Raiders’ building believes Hardy might be worth the risk.
The Huffington Post’s Jordan Schultz initially linked the Raiders to Hardy, and added details today. According to Schultz, the “divide” in the Oakland front office involves the “football folks” and that would presumably mean the “football folks” are not in agreement with “non-football folks.”
So who are the football folks? Well, presumably that would be Reggie McKenzie and/or his most trusted personnel guys. What we learned this morning is that for now at least, Mark Davis is not in favor of signing Hardy. Davis called the reports linking Hardy to the Raiders “false, falser, and falsest.” But the Raiders’ owner added an interesting thought that maybe shouldn’t be ignored. “I can tell you this, it has not been brought up to me and it would have to come to me.”
Is there a chance Reggie (or his personnel guys) were a little stealthy in their conversations about Hardy? Could it have been the rogue nature of the operation that struck a nerve with Davis?
It might make sense. An ESPN report stated yesterday that Hardy was entering negotiations with a team that did not want to be identified. Initially that made sense because of the delicate situation that it is, but could the “football folks” in Oakland have been trying to keep things quiet from a particular non-football guy?
Whatever the case, there have been three reputable reports (Huffington Post, NBC Sports, Baltimore Sun) that Oakland has some level of interest in Hardy. Could it be agent driven? Sure. But considering the way free agency has gone for the Raiders, the football folks in Oakland are probably inclined to consider possibilities they may not have a week ago.
Maybe that means Hardy. Maybe it doesn’t.
