Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory is now out of rehab and has been removed from the club’s reserve/did not report list, a source tells Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter links). However, Gregory still has three more games left on his original four-game suspension, and is still facing a 10-game ban that will enter the appeals process at some point in the future, according to Yates.
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Gregory, 24 in November, didn’t see a ton of action during his first NFL season — he was slowed by an early-season ankle sprain and ended up recording 11 tackles over the course of 250 defensive snaps. Viewed as a surefire first-round pick – and a potential top-10 selection – based on talent, Gregory slipped in last year’s draft to 60th overall, where he was snatched up by the Cowboys. Off-field concerns, including a failed drug test at the combine, contributed to his slide.
“It’s disappointing, but at the same time, sometimes these things don’t get fixed overnight,” Cowboys COO Stephen Jones said in February of Gregory’s four-game suspension. “Anybody who has ever been involved in this type of situation knows that sometimes it takes time. We’re there, but he’s going to have to buckle down, which he is. He’s working hard at it, but he’s got to get over the hump here.
You have to be concerned. That’s the risk you get when you go there. It’s all about that risk-reward deal, but at the end of the day, we got the infrastructure in place to continue to help him. We think he’s utilizing it, but at the same time, it’s disappointing that we had this go far enough that it resulted in a suspension.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.