Back from drug ban, Cowboys’ Gregory speaks of deeper issues
OXNARD, Calif.—Randy Gregory understands the prevailing view that repeated use of marijuana is the reason the Dallas Cowboys defensive end has been suspended for 30 of the past 32 games.
Now that he’s on the verge of playing after a year away from the NFL, the former Nebraska standout wants people to know there are deeper issues of mental health that Gregory isn’t comfortable discussing in detail publicly.
“I was self-sabotaging,” Gregory said Monday in his first group session with reporters at training camp in California. “Anybody that deals with what I have to deal with and what I’ve gone through and understands the process of what I’ve been through, I think can understand there’s also a mental aspect to it along with emotional.”
Gregory was suspended three times in less than a year, the last a yearlong ban for multiple violations of the league’s substance-abuse policy. He missed the 2017 season and waited an extra six months to apply for reinstatement to try to improve his chances.
The detailed application included letters of recommendation from several teammates, most notably 2016 All-Pro linebacker Sean Lee, and won the approval of Commissioner Roger Goodell in time for Gregory to join the Cowboys at camp.
Gregory’s time away included stints in rehab and therapy, and the 25-year-old acknowledged that he had to learn to take those efforts more seriously.
“I was self-sabotaging. Anybody that deals with what I have to deal with and what I’ve gone through and understands the process of what I’ve been through, I think can understand there’s also a mental aspect to it along with emotional.”
—Randy Gregory
“It’s not just somebody walking around carelessly doing what they want,” Gregory said. “There’s obviously a mental aspect to it that plays a big part in it for me that I’ve had to try to figure out. The moment I took a more serious approach to that with my therapy and the more people around me understood what I was going through mentally, made it a lot easier for me to get right.”
The Cowboys drafted Gregory late in the second round in 2015. He was considered a first-round talent before testing positive for marijuana at the combine.
Gregory made it through his first season without getting suspended, missing four games with an ankle injury but going without a sack in his 12 appearances. The first suspension was announced in the offseason, followed by a 10-game ban before the four-game suspension had expired.
He played the final two games in 2016, finally getting his first sack in the finale when the Cowboys had already wrapped up the NFC East title. The third suspension hit before Dallas lost a divisional playoff game to Green Bay.