Every team in the NFL had their eyes on Nebraska’s Randy Gregory last year, when he failed a marijuana test at the Scouting Cobimne.
So it wasn’t a complete surprise when he continued to fail tests, which led to his recent four-game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said he hadn’t talked to Gregory since the suspension, but the onus was going to be on the defensive end to fix things when he’s eligible to return.
“We felt like we put a really good structure in place for him to help him overcome it,” Garrett said, via Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Unfortunately, over the course of the season, he slipped up. He made a mistake.
“There are no excuses. We’re all disappointed with what that is, but now we have to move forward. He has to move forward, he has to put it behind him.”
Gregory can still participate in the offseason program and the preseason, but won’t be available for the first four weeks of the regular season. And while he’s an easy cautionary tale, Garrett said the team won’t shy away from taking chance on risky players with high athletic upside.
“We always evaluate everything we do,” Garrett said. “You always want to make those learning experiences for you, and you want to do it better. We have to do it better, and we’ll continue to do that.
“We value high character players on our team. We have a team made up of them.”
While he might not get widespread agreement on that point, it’s also a reflection of the reality of owner Jerry Jones, who has always been willing to make a splash, even if involved something splashing onto their shoes that takes time to wipe off.