Greg Hardy not in danger of being released

The Carolina Panthers decided to deactivate star defensive end Greg Hardy for yesterday’s game against the Detroit Lions, and Ron Rivera and the organization received well-deserved plaudits for being willing to take a stand against domestic violence. Many believe that the Panthers were pressured by the Minnesota Vikings decision to deactivate Adrian Peterson after the star RB was indicted in a child injury case, though the Vikings benching ended up hurting them much more than the Panthers benching. While the Panthers dominated the Lions in impressive fashion, the Vikings were overmatched by the New England Patriots, who were the much better team anyway and forced former QB Matt Cassel to throw four picks.

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Hardy is currently playing out the 2014 season on the franchise tag, though the Panthers once seemed willing to let him go, especially with Charles Johnson and underrated backup Mario Addison, who was absolutely phenomenal in Hardy’s stead yesterday, locked up for the foreseeable future. And with rookie Kony Ealy looking impressive, Hardy might just be a stopgap DE for those guys.

But if the Panthers do decide to part ways with Hardy, it clearly isn’t going to happen this year. The NFL Network’s Albert Breer reports that Rivera flatly stated that the Panthers have not discussed cutting ties with Hardy, and it would honestly make absolutely no sense for them to release him at this juncture; let the league handle his punishment and then re-evaluate him in the offseason.