Rise ‘n Grind: The next NFL suspension

HARDY SUSPENSION: It’s going to be a total of 25 games that Greg Hardy will miss over a disturbing domestic violence incident. The case was dismissed, ultimately, but the NFL still took matters into its own hands, leveling a 10-game suspension. Hardy and the NFLPA are appealing it.

THE NEXT SUSPENSION: Cardinals linebacker Daryl Washington is probably going be the next player suspended for domestic violence. Whether or not he gets the same 10-game suspension as Greg Hardy remains to be seen. Of course, the Cardinals were without him last year because of a drug policy suspension. Needless to say, they’re planning for a 2015 season without him now.

CANNIBALS: Steve Kiem, Arizona’s GM, had Wednesday’s most disturbing quote. “If Hannibal Lecter ran a 4.3, we’d probably diagnose it as an eating disorder,” he said in reference to most teams’ tolerance for troubled but talented players.

WHO IS MARCUS: A lot of people have a lot of crazy ideas about what Marcus Mariota can and can’t do on the field. Most of them are off base. Dan Kadar cleared up some of the most common misconceptions.

NICE PLACE: The Carson stadium project is closer to fruition following this week’s blessing from the city council there. But you should hold off on buying any L.A. Chargers gear. Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s gilded palace of sports entertainment is still the lead horse.

WIGGLE ROOM: Philip Rivers is still in the plans for the Chargers, at least that’s the team’s “plan and intent,” according to a carefully worded statement from GM Tom Telesco. The statement’s just enough to leave open a million possibilities.

GOOD EXCUSE: Antonio Brown’s absence from voluntary workouts got Steelers fans riled up. He eased tensions on Wednesday by revealing a perfectly good excuse.

WASHINGTON’S DECISION: Will RG3 play a fifth season in Washington? The team’s reportedly withholding its decision on picking up his fifth-year option until after the draft. They’d be dumb not to, but nothing this team does makes sense.

MORE MARVIN: Mike Brown be awfully comfortable with Marvin Lewis -- that, and the price is probably right -- to give him a contract extension through 2016. The Bengals dynasty continues!

AGAINST THE ODDS: A lot of players rise above tough circumstances to make it to the NFL, and there are a lot of those stories out there this time of year. But Danny Shelton’s story is especially moving, so go read Robert Mays’ profile of the Washington defensive tackle (who reminds some people of Vince Wilfork).

FOLLOW THE NOSE: Just how valuable is a nose tackle, especially a two-down nose tackle? It all depends on which team is looking for one and what exactly it sees in a certain player. Stephen White broke down an interesting guy who falls into that conversation on Wednesday, Oklahoma’s Jordan Phillips.

SLOW STARTERS: Just how important is it for a team to start the season strong? A Week 1 win isn’t as common among Super Bowl winners as you might think.