NFL Notes: Greg Hardy, Bears, Bengals

Greg Hardy

According to TMZ Sports, former Panthers and Cowboys DE Greg Hardy has signed with the Richmond Roughriders of the American Arena League.

Hardyโ€™s first game for the Roughriders is scheduled for March 17th.

Bears

Bears G Kyle Long confirmed during an interview with ESPN 1000 that heโ€™s scheduled to undergo left shoulder surgery in addition to his neck operation.

โ€œThereโ€™s going to be some work done with that for sure,โ€ Long said of his shoulder issues, via Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribuneโ€œIโ€™ve got some minor standard-operating-procedure offseason stuff but nothing major.โ€

Long has dealt with a number of injuries the past few years and has missed 14 games as a result. He explained that he always felt it was going to catch up to him at some point.

โ€œYou know what, I was so blessed early on to come out clean from so many hundreds and thousands of piles that I was in that it was going to catch up to me eventually,โ€ Long said. โ€œEvery player goes through it. I just happened to have it all clumped together.โ€

Bengals

Despite reports that the Bengals and long-time HC Marvin Lewis were likely headed towards a split this offseason, Cincinnati ultimately re-signed Lewis to a new two-year deal and have been reshaping their coaching staff.

Lewis tells Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer that theyโ€™ve got โ€œa lot of workโ€ ahead of them and everyone is well aware of this.

โ€œWe have to make it better. We have to be a better football team. I mean, we have to,โ€ Lewis said. โ€œWeโ€™ve got a lot work ahead and players know that and understand that. They look forward to that. Itโ€™s that group of guys thatโ€™s going to lead them forward but they know whatโ€™s ahead.โ€

According to Lewis, the changes being made in Cincinnati will hopefully be a โ€œgood sparkโ€ for the players.

โ€œItโ€™s going to be new; itโ€™s going to be different,โ€ Lewis said, โ€œso weโ€™re going to have the [playersโ€™] attention, which is good. Itโ€™ll be a good spark for them to have. But we donโ€™t have to reinvent the wheel. But we can certainly make it different, better.โ€

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