NFL Fully Reinstates Randy Gregory
Given conditional reinstatement last week, Randy Gregory will now be able to practice with the Cowboys at training camp as he attempts a comeback.
The NFL fully reinstated the embattled defensive end on Monday, Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk reports. He’s cleared to practice and play in games, furthering a comeback he didn’t previously believe was possible.
Dallas also has Gregory signed through the 2020 season. Under normal circumstances, Gregory would be entering a contract year since he was a 2015 draft pick. But due to multiple seasons of contract tolling, the Nebraska alum is signed for three more years.
While it’s uncertain if the former second-round pick can make good on this opportunity, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets the NFL liked Gregory’s plan and green-lit a full-scale return to action. The 25-year-old edge defender, suspended indefinitely due to multiple substance-abuse violations, worked a 9-5 job at times this offseason in Dallas but continued to train heavily for a possible comeback.
Gregory has not played since the 2016 regular-season finale and hasn’t played more than two games in a season since his rookie year. He’ll join a mix of pass rushers headlined by DeMarcus Lawrence but also including longtime Cowboy Tyrone Crawford and 2017 first-rounder Taco Charlton. Gregory, though, has a long way to go to make good on his draft status. He has just one sack in 14 games.
Latest On Randy Gregory's Comeback
In a recent feature, Calvin Watkins of The Athletic took a look at the recently re-instated Randy Gregory‘s long road back to the NFL. On Tuesday, Gregory was allowed back into the league on a conditional basis by the league office. The 2015 second-round pick of the Cowboys has played in just two games since his rookie season due to multiple violations of the league’s substance abuse policy.
Gregory is now reportedly sober and focused on making a return to Dallas. He’s only 25, and the Cowboys could certainly use extra pass-rushing help. Watkins’ article details how Gregory got a regular 9-to-5 job at a Dallas-based business in order to prove he could get his life together. He partnered with attorney Daniel Moskowitz, and continued working out heavily during his extended exile. According to Watkins, Gregory “was in shock” when the league re-instated him, as he didn’t believe he would ever actually make it back. It’s been a tough journey, but it certainly sounds like the former Nebraska standout is ready to make the most of his second chance.
Cowboys Don't Want To Make Lawrence Highest-Paid DE
The Cowboys don’t want to make DeMarcus Lawrence the highest-paid pass rusher in the league, Calvin Watkins of The Athletic writes. However, with another strong year, Watkins believes that the Cowboys would be willing to place him somewhere in the top three.
This year, Lawrence is set to play out the 2017 season on his one-year, $17.1MM franchise tag. Technically, the Cowboys can tag him again next year, but the $20.5MM cost is probably too high for the Cowboys to consider. Instead, the two sides could use that price as a reference point to hammer out the five-year deal that Lawrence is reportedly seeking.
After the Cowboys locked up Zack Martin to the highest contract for a guard in league history, Watkins doubts that the Cowboys will allow Lawrence to get away in 2019. They shelled out big bucks to give Martin a six-year, $84MM deal with $40MM in guarantees and structured the deal in a way that his cap number won’t be cumbersome until 2021, when it rises to $15MM. The Cowboys are skittish about overpaying Lawrence, but they don’t want to let their best pass rusher walk away and there’s likely a way to make the numbers work.
Randy Gregory Excited To Return To NFL
- Earlier today, the NFL reinstated Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory on a conditional basis. Naturally, after appearing in only two games over the past two seasons, the 25-year-old is excited about the prospect of returning to the NFL. “I’m very excited,” Gregory said (via the Dallas News’ Jon Machota on Twitter). “Thanks to the ones who supported me and stood by me. It’s a lot more to the story than it seems and it took me a lot to get to this point. Now I’m ready to make some plays.”
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Cowboys Have Randy Gregory Through 2020
When the Cowboys drafted Randy Gregory in 2015, his four-year rookie deal had him on course for free agency after the 2019 season. However, thanks to multiple suspensions, Gregory will be under club control for longer. 
[RELATED: NFL Reinstates Cowboys’ Randy Gregory]
Gregory’s deal with the Cowboys now runs though 2020, as Todd Archer of ESPN.com (on Twitter) notes. Gregory, who was reinstated on Tuesday, will have his first opportunity to test the open market at the age of 27.
The Nebraska product was a highly-touted prospect heading into the 2015 draft, but he has compiled 15 tackles and one sack thus far in a suspension-riddled career. The length of Gregory’s contract won’t have much meaning to the Cowboys or any other team in the league unless he can perform at a high level in 2018 and stay on the right path.
The Cowboys will start DeMarcus Lawrence and Tyrone Crawford at defensive end, but Gregory could see time as a reserve along with Richard Ash and Jihad Ward. The Cowboys’ season kicks off on Sept. 9 against the Panthers.
In other Cowboys news, Lawrence reportedly does not want to play on a second franchise tag in 2019.
Cowboys’ Randy Gregory Reinstated
Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory has been reinstated on a conditional basis, according to an announcement from the NFL. Gregory will be permitted to be with the team in training camp. After that, he’ll be able to take part in regular season practices and games if he continues to be in compliance with the NFL’s substance abuse policy. 
This marks a massive victory for Gregory, who was previously banished from the NFL. Most banished players do not earn the right to return, but Gregory has been welcomed back after going through therapy and getting clean.
The former second-round pick will be in Stage 3 of the league substance abuse program for the next two years, which means that he will be subject to frequent random testing. He’s more or less in a zero-tolerance zone at this point, so a failed or missed test could be a career-ender.
The Cowboys would love for Gregory to be a contributor right away in his return. David Irving is suspended for the first four games of the season and fellow defensive tackle Maliek Collins isn’t a lock to return for the Cowboys‘ Week 1 contest. Gregory could give the Cowboys some much-needed defensive line support off of the bench, which could help to offset their early-season losses on the interior.
Gregory was a highly-touted prospect heading into the 2015 draft, but a failed marijuana test caused his draft stock to fall. In 14 career games, the defensive end has compiled 15 tackles and one sack. The Cowboys will hope for the best when it comes to Gregory, but it’s not exactly clear what kind of player he can be for them.
No Substantial Dialogue Between Cowboys, DeMarcus Lawrence Occurred Post-March
Monday’s deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign extensions came and went without a deal. For the Steelers, this could well mean the beginning of an era’s end. For the Cowboys, Lions and Rams, prices for their tagged performers went up for future purposes. Here’s the latest fallout from the tag deadline.
- Despite reports the Cowboys and DeMarcus Lawrence were going to engage in discussions about an extension prior to Monday, Todd Archer of ESPN.com reports no substantive talks had occurred in months. The parties last participated in a real debate about Lawrence’s value in March, per Archer. That doesn’t make these talks much different from the Lions and Ziggy Ansah, with Bob Quinn effectively admitting they were planning to use the tag to evaluate their injury-prone defensive end this season. Lawrence has struggled with multiple maladies as well, and it seems the Cowboys are willing to have a $17.1MM cap hit on the books to see if he can deliver another strong season.
- Lawrence did not express concern about playing this season for that amount, but he does not want to play on what’s essentially a rental agreement in 2019. The defensive end, though, would make $20.5MM if the Cowboys tagged him again. And Archer expects that’s exactly what will end up happening (Twitter link). A $20.5MM hit may be not be as damaging as it once was, but it will likely represent a slightly greater percentage of Dallas’ 2019 cap than Lawrence’s 2018 hit does for this year’s $177MM ceiling. If the cap goes up by its usual $10MM or close approximation, a $20.5MM hit would take up nearly 11 percent of the Cowboys’ ’19 cap. This season, the 26-year-old defender will occupy 9.66 percent of the Cowboys’ cap.
DeMarcus Lawrence Against Playing On Tag After This Season
Four players are set to play on a franchise tender this season. DeMarcus Lawrence‘s 14.5-sack showing in 2017 prompted the Cowboys to place a $17.1MM tag on him this year, and he did not object to that arrangement.
However, he does not want this situation to repeat itself. Lawrence’s goal is to secure a long-term extension with the Cowboys after this season, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets, adding that the fifth-year defensive end will not play on the tag in 2019.
While a 2019 tag would exceed $20MM, a historic one-season windfall for a non-quarterback, Lawrence wants a commitment after this 2018 rental setup concludes. The Cowboys are now intent to see if Lawrence’s breakout was a fluke. Those 14.5 sacks eclipsed his previous three-season total by 5.5, and 10 of those sacks came in the season’s first seven weeks.
A report earlier this month indicated the Cowboys were OK with Lawrence playing this year on the tag. Lawrence said he would be. The $17MM-plus cap hit doesn’t damage Dallas’ ledger like it would have in previous years. And next season, Tony Romo and Dez Bryant‘s dead-money figures are off the Cowboys’ books. They are projected to possess more than $50MM in cap space, and if Lawrence can deliver another strong season, the franchise would be in better position to hammer out a long-term agreement.
No Deals For Bell, Lawrence, Ansah, Or Joyner
None of this year’s franchise tagged players agreed to extensions with their respective teams before Monday’s deadline. That means Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell, Lions defensive end Ziggy Ansah, Cowboys defensive end Demarcus Lawrence, and Rams safety Lamarcus Joyner will all play on their tags in 2018. 
Over the weekend, we heard that deals were unlikely for any of the four players. However, we’ve been surprised in the past. You may recall the 2016 franchise tag extension deadline in which Muhammad Wilkerson and the Jets agreed to a buzzer-beating deal after weeks of reports indicating that it would not happen (the Jets certainly wish it hadn’t happened now).
There was no surprise this year, so the four franchise tagged players are all entering contract seasons at the following rates:
- Ezekiel Ansah – $17.1MM
- DeMarcus Lawrence – $17.1MM
- Le’Veon Bell – $14.5MM
- Lamarcus Joyner – ~$12MM
This marks the first ever franchise tag for Ansah, Lawrence, and Joyner. For Bell, this is the second go ’round and it’s incredibly unlikely that the Steelers will consider a third tag, no matter how good he is in 2018.
Per league rules, extension talks cannot resume between the team and the tagged player until after the 2018 season has concluded.
Cowboys, Lawrence Will Not Reach Deal
No surprise here, but the Cowboys and DeMarcus Lawrence will not reach agreement on an extension before Monday’s 4pm ET/3pm CT deadline, Todd Archer of ESPN.com hears (on Twitter). Instead, Lawrence will play out the 2018 season on his $17.143MM franchise tag.
Lawrence, 26, had 14.5 sacks in 2017. That total was the most by a Cowboys player since DeMarcus Ware had 19 in 2011. The Cowboys also notched 38 sacks as a team, giving them their highest total overall since ’11. Despite some bumps early on in his career, including back issues, Lawrence underscored his importance to the club with a big campaign last year. He also did not miss any games in ’17.
It is believed that Lawrence is gunning to top Olivier Vernon‘s five-year, $85MM deal with the Giants and his agent – the same one that represents Vernon – wants at least $17MM/year. For what it’s worth, Lawrence’s ’17 sack total nearly doubled Vernon’s total from his contract year. He also graded out as Pro Football Focus’ No. 3 ranked DE, putting him behind only Cameron Jordan and Von Miller amongst edge rushers.
Apparently, that’s a bit too rich for the Cowboys’ blood at this time. As a result, the Cowboys will not be able to reopen negotiations with Lawrence until January 2019.