Credit Mark Davis for strong stand

Mark Davis took a gamble on Aldon Smith and lost. Smith is suspended for a year.

Jerry Jones took a gamble on Greg Hardy and won. Hardy was suspended for only four games and is now playing for the Cowboys.

But that’s not actually accurate.

I recently talked to the Raiders’ owner about his stand on domestic violence. He’s one of the few owners in the league who has made his position perfectly clear.

“I have very strong feelings about this,” he said. “I don’t know how to fix it in society, but I know we can’t have it on our team. We have zero tolerance. To make it more Raiders-like, let’s say we have double-zero tolerance, like Jim Otto’s number.”

In March, there were rumors that Davis would sign Hardy. Davis quickly stifled those. Hardy, who was found guilty by a judge of assaulting his girlfriend, appealed for a jury trial and when his victim refused to testify, had his charges dropped. The Cowboys signed him to a one-year $11.3 million contract.

There are a lot of troubled young men playing football (though let’s be clear that there are far more upstanding members of society in the NFL than the bad seeds). Smith is one of them, but he has hurt only himself to this point. He needs intensive therapy that he didn’t get in his last stop with the 49ers. Driving drunk is not to be taken lightly, and he could have killed or injured others.

But it’s different than someone who beats his girlfriend, throws her on a bed of automatic weapons and threatens to kill her, as Hardy is alleged to have done. Hardy has not only shown no remorse, he’s a terrible teammate: fighting with other players and coaches, and reporting late to meetings.

Davis’ views on the matter were shaped by his relationship with former Raiders receiver Fred Biletnikoff, whose daughter, Tracey, was murdered by her boyfriend.

“They’re family,” Davis said. “It hit us all very hard.”