Randy Gregory

Randy Gregory (born November 23, 1992) is an American football defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. He played college football at Nebraska, and was drafted by the Cowboys in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft.

Randy Gregory
Gregory at Nebraska practice in 2014
No. 94 – Dallas Cowboys
Position:Defensive end
Personal information
Born: (1992-11-23) November 23, 1992
Jacksonville, Florida
Height:6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight:242 lb (110 kg)
Career information
High school:Hamilton Southeastern
(Fishers, Indiana)
College:Nebraska
NFL Draft:2015 / Round: 2 / Pick: 60
Career history
Roster status:Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2020
Total tackles:66
Sacks:10.5
Forced fumbles:5
Fumble recoveries:1
Pass deflections:1
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Early years

Gregory was born in Jacksonville, Florida and moved eight different times.[1] His father, Ken Gregory, played college football at Northwestern.[2] He attended Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Indiana, where he was a two-sport star in football and basketball. In football, he had big numbers as a junior, posting 92 tackles, including 17 sacks. Following his senior season, he was ranked as one of the top 15 players in the state of Indiana. In addition to numerous scholarship offers in football, Gregory also attracted Division I basketball interest out of high school.[3]

College career

Gregory attended Arizona Western College from 2011 to 2012. As a freshman in 2011, he had 82 tackles and nine sacks. He missed the 2012 season due to a broken leg.

He committed to Purdue University, but was academically ineligible and decided to attend the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.[4][5] In his first year at Nebraska, he started 10-of-13 games, recording 64 tackles, 10.5 sacks and one interception that he returned for a touchdown.[6] His 10.5 sacks led the Big Ten.[7] He was named a first-team All-Big Ten and was Nebraska's Defensive MVP.[8][9]

Sporting News listed Gregory as their preseason number 5 player in college football for 2014.[10] For the season he had 50 tackles and seven sacks. He decided to forgo his senior season and enter the 2015 NFL Draft.[11]

Collegiate statistics
Season Tackling Interceptions Fumbles
YearClassGPTklsSoloAsstLossSackIntYdsTDLngPDFFFRYdsTD
2013SO1366402619.010.513303311100
2014JR1154233110.07.0100031000
NCAA Total 24120635729.017.523303342100

Professional career
Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight Arm length Hand size 40-yard dash 10-yard split 20-yard split 20-yard shuttle Three-cone drill Vertical jump Broad jump Bench press Wonderlic
6 ft 4 7⁄8 in
(1.95 m)		 235 lb
(107 kg)		 34 in
(0.86 m)		 10 in
(0.25 m)		 4.64 s 1.61 s 2.71 s 4.23 s 6.80 s 36 1⁄2 in
(0.93 m)		 10 ft 5 in
(3.18 m)		 24 reps 28
All values from NFL Combine[12][13]

As early as May 2014, Gregory was projected as a high first-round selection in the 2015 NFL Draft by various mock drafts.[14][15][16] However, after failing the 2015 NFL Scouting Combine drug test for marijuana, he was looked over during the first round of the draft and fell heavily to the second round, until being selected by the Dallas Cowboys (60th overall).

In 2015, although he showed promise during preseason (three sacks in three games) and in the season opener against New York Giants (three quarterback pressures in only 18 snaps), he suffered a high ankle sprain in the fourth quarter that forced him to miss the next four games and held back his development. He made his return to the field in week 7 against the Giants, however, it wasn't until the team's week 10 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that Gregory posted his first professional tackle, making one solo and one assisted tackle in the game. He didn't have a sack during the season, but still managed 16 quarterback pressures (fourth on the team) and one tackle-for-loss.

On February 19, 2016, Gregory was suspended for the first four games of the season due to violating the league's substance abuse policy.[17] A few months later, Gregory failed a second drug test, checked into an undisclosed treatment facility and was removed from the team's roster. He received an additional 10-game suspension, making him ineligible to return to the Cowboys until December 19.[18][19]

On November 11, it was reported that Gregory supposedly failed another drug test and was facing a yearlong suspension added on to his current 14-game suspension.[20]

Gregory was activated from his consecutive suspensions on December 26, prior to a Week 16 matchup against the Detroit Lions. His year-long suspension was not in place at the time so he could make his 2016 season debut.[21] In the game, he was able to play through an oblique strain he suffered in the second quarter, while posting two tackles and one quarterback hurry. With the team suffering multiple injuries along the defensive line, he started in the last game of the season against the Philadelphia Eagles, recording his first career sack, one tackle for loss, a quarterback hurry and was second on the team with seven tackles.

Although there was a possibility that the NFL would delay the appeal hearing for his latest suspension and allow him to play in the postseason, the meeting was held on January 3, 2017, with the league officially announcing that Gregory would be suspended for the playoffs and at least for one season on January 5, after allegedly missing a scheduled drug test.[22] On July 17, 2018, Gregory was reinstated by the NFL on a conditional basis, allowing him to report to training camp and participate in meetings, but is not permitted to participate in games or practices until the conditions are met.[23] He was fully reinstated by the league the following week.[24] On August 30, he visited with the NFL's chief medical director in what was reported to be a proactive meeting to discuss his treatment and progress.[25] In early September, a report surfaced in the media that Gregory may have suffered a substance abuse relapse during the month of August.[26] Although he was called to the New York League Headquarters for a private meeting, no further discipline was applied.

On February 26, 2019, Gregory was suspended indefinitely by the NFL for violating the league's substance abuse policy and the terms of his conditional reinstatement.[27] On April 2, 2019, the Cowboys extended Gregory's contract through the 2020 season.[28] In March 2020, ESPN reported that Gregory filed for reinstatement with the NFL.[29] On September 4, 2020, Gregory was conditionally reinstated from suspension, and the Cowboys were given a roster exemption for him through the first six games of the season.[30] He was activated from the roster exemption on October 20, 2020.[31]

In Week 12 against the Washington Football Team on Thanksgiving, Gregory recorded his first two sacks of the season on Alex Smith during the 41–16 loss.[32]

Personal life

Gregory has a daughter, Sophia Gregory, born in fall 2016 and a son, Roman Gregory born October 5, 2019[33]

References
  1. "Nebraska defensive end Randy Gregory is back in Jacksonville, where he was born".
  2. "Cowboys' Randy Gregory: 'I was just in a real bad place'". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  3. "Randy Gregory Bio".
  4. Brian Christopherson, Lincoln Journal Star. "Gregory quite familiar with Purdue".
  5. Omaha.com. "Omaha World-Herald apps". Omaha.com.
  6. "Defensive end Randy Gregory was huge surprise for Nebraska this season". Archived from the original on March 19, 2014.
  7. "Huskers' Pelini: Lots more in store for DE Gregory".
  8. Omaha.com. "Blogs". Omaha.com.
  9. Omaha.com. "Omaha World-Herald apps". Omaha.com.
  10. Hayes, Matt (May 1, 2014). "College football's Top 25 players for 2014: Rightfully QB-heavy". Sporting News. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  11. "Randy Gregory to enter draft". ESPN. December 30, 2014.
  12. "NFL Events Combine Player Profile". nfl.com. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  13. https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/cowboys/2016/06/28/cowboys-nfl-intelligence-tests-scores-revealed/
  14. Brugler, Dane (May 11, 2014). "2015 NFL mock draft: Big Ten, ACC prospects lead the way". CBS Sports.
  15. Sobleski, Brent (May 11, 2014). "2015 mock draft: Jameis Winston slips out of Top 5". USA Today.
  16. Burke, Chris (May 13, 2015). "2015 NFL Mock Draft 1.0: Cedric Ogbuehi goes No. 1 overall to Oakland Raiders". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on May 13, 2014.
  17. Archer, Todd (February 19, 2016). "Randy Gregory suspended 4 games for substance abuse violation". ESPN. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  18. Knoblauch, Austin. "Randy Gregory suspended additional 10 games by NFL". nfl.com. nfl.com. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  19. Archer, Todd (July 26, 2016). "Randy Gregory faces longer ban due to another drug policy violation". ABC. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  20. "Randy Gregory fails another drug test". WildPitchSports.com. November 11, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
  21. Archer, Todd (December 26, 2016). "Cowboys activate Randy Gregory off reserve/exempt list after suspensions". ESPN.com.
  22. Around the NFL Staff (January 5, 2017). "Cowboys DE Randy Gregory suspended at least one year". NFL.com.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  23. Teope, Herbie (July 17, 2018). "Cowboys DE Randy Gregory conditionally reinstated". NFL.com.
  24. Sessler, Marc (July 23, 2018). "Cowboys' Randy Gregory fully cleared and reinstated". NFL.com.
  25. Archer, Todd (August 30, 2018). "Sources: Randy Gregory, NFL medical director met to discuss substance-abuse program". ESPN.com.
  26. Shefter, Adam (September 9, 2018). "Randy Gregory suffered relapse in August, might face discipline from NFL". ESPN.com.
  27. Bergman, Jeremy (February 26, 2019). "Cowboys DE Randy Gregory suspended indefinitely". NFL.com.
  28. Patra, Kevin (April 2, 2019). "Cowboys extend Randy Gregory's contract through '20". NFL.com.
  29. "Source: Cowboys' Gregory files for reinstatement". ESPN.com. March 23, 2020. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  30. "Dallas Cowboys' Randy Gregory conditionally reinstated by NFL". ESPN.com. September 4, 2020. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  31. Williams, Charean (October 20, 2020). "Cowboys activate Randy Gregory". NBCSports.com. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  32. "Washington Football Team at Dallas Cowboys - November 26th, 2020". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  33. Merrill, Elizabeth. "Cowboys' Randy Gregory: 'I was just in a real bad place'". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
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