Randy Gregory suspended a year: No one is surprised

The NFL handed down a one-year minimum suspension of troubled Dallas Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory, making him unavailable until 2018.

Dallas Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory is a big tease. First, Cowboys fans must wait until the final two games of this season before the 2015 second round pick out of Nebraska is allowed to play after being suspended earlier this year for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.

Then, the 24-year old pass rusher plays well in those two contests, recording nine total tackles and posting the first sack of his career. Only now to be suspended for the playoffs and the entire 2017 campaign for once again violating that same policy.

According to David Moore of the Dallas Morning News, that suspension could be even longer than a year.

Unfortunately, this latest suspension comes at no surprise. Gregory, who was once considered a top ten talent in the 2015 NFL Draft, dropped to the 60th overall selection in the second round after failing a drug test at the Scouting Combine earlier that year. In his two year stint in Dallas, Gregory has failed multiple such tests, which has landed him in his current situation.

This young man continues to fight his demons of addiction. Without football to occupy his mind, Gregory will now have more time to get his life on the right path. As for the Cowboys, they’ll need to turn to other players to provide the much needed pass rush now missing from what the young second-year player could have potentially provided in the postseason.

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With such a high investment made into Gregory, you have to think the Cowboys will continue to develop the young pass rusher as much as possible. But one has to wonder if we’ve seen the last of him in a Dallas Cowboys uniform. I hope for his sake, it is not.