Another domestic violence case mishandled by the National Football League?

That's the claim of an ESPN report alleging that the league saw all of the photos of Greg Hardy's assaulted ex-girlfriend that Deadspin released Friday back in April during a trip to North Carolina by NFL investigator Lisa Friel.

That begs the question how the league could have only suspended Hardy 10 games, especially after Ray Rice's domestic violence situation.

Upon Deadspin releasing pictures Friday of bruises over much of Nicole Holder's body, it was reported that the Dallas Cowboys hadn't seen the photos when they signed Hardy to a one-year deal last April.

With public outrage over the pics at a high, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and coach Jason Garrett have openly stated that this is the defensive end's second chance and that they're behind Hardy.

"We decided we were giving him a second chance, but in doing so, the expectations and the standards we set would be very clear to him and how he and, really, everybody else is supposed to conduct themselves on the football field and off the football field," Garrett told ESPN.

In between the photos being released and Hardy playing in the Cowboys' Sunday Night Football loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the defensive end took to his Twitter account to express remorse.

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(Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)