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FRISCO, Texas The first three weeks of July usually don't provide much news for any football team.
But the Cowboys received some good news earlier this week when the NFL officially reinstated Randy Gregory to the team after a one-year suspension.
No one in the organization might be as excited about that news than defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, who now has yet another pass-rusher in the stable to work with when the team goes to training camp next week.
"I'm extremely excited to have him back," Marinelli said this week at The Star. "Just really looking forward to having a chance to work with him again."
Repeated violations of the NFL's substance abuse policy has obviously been a constant setback for Gregory, who only played in two games in the past two seasons, and just 14 for his career after playing in 12 games as a rookie in 2015.

Still, the flashes Gregory showed in that first preseason, where he recorded three sacks in the first three games, is enough to get Marinelli excited. He also thinks the defensive end might not have as much rust to knock off as you might expect.
"Oh yeah, he's got the stuff that you need," Marinelli said. "I just want to give him time now to get back in the saddle and learn the basics again and bring him along that way. But he's so talented. Some of things will return quicker than most for him."
The NFL has reinstated Gregory on a conditional basis. Those conditions currently will allow Gregory to attend training camp with the team in Oxnard, Calif. next week and attend meetings and individual workouts. For now, Gregory is not allowed to fully practice or participate in games, but that could change while in Oxnard, assuming he can meet the necessary conditions given by the NFL.
Overall, Marinelli applauded Gregory for not giving up and continuing to fight his way back to this point.
"No question about it. I admire the fight," Marinelli said. "I really admire the fight. I'm excited about getting him back here. I know the other guys feel the same way. He's really well-liked on our football team."

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FRISCO, Texas Long Shot.
Might as well start there.
Back the summer of 2016, when we found out Randy Gregory would be suspended the first four games of the season, then subsequently 10 more, someone told me basically, "Randy Gregory will never play another down of football for the Cowboys."
Well, he ended playing 66 downs in the final two games of that season. But, before the Cowboys got to the playoffs, Gregory was issued a one-year suspension, once again for violating the NFL's policy on substance abuse. Gregory's substance of choice was marijuana, coupled with missing mandatory tests, judged the same as testing positive.
At that time, the prediction seemed pretty solid, knowing Gregory would miss the entire 2017 season, meaning he would have gone two full seasons, and encompassing 24 months while having played just two games. On top of that, he would have to prove he could become a productive citizen away from football and conquer his predilection for marijuana before the NFL would even consider reinstatement.

Yep, that Randy Gregory would ever play another down of football in the NFL, a Long Shot!
Well, Gregory, the Cowboys' 2015 second-round draft choice is getting that shot, the NFL announcing Tuesday he has been "conditionally reinstated," just in time for next week's start to training camp. That appears to be a mere formality. Aside from the behavioral review, his attorney Daniel Moskowitz and agent Steve Weinberg devised a clinical resource plan to meet the NFL's requirements. That plan has two parts: for the time Gregory will spend in Oxnard, Calif., during training camp and then the one continuing once the team returns here for the remainder of the preseason and regular season.
At this time, Gregory has been cleared to attend camp, meetings and continue his conditioning with the Cowboys' staff off to the side during practices. And once his "compliance resources" have been officially hired, being allowed to begin practicing and then participate in preseason games becomes a mere formality . . . as long as he doesn't miss any more tests or test positive again.
That's the technical part.
As for the football part, remember, he has not played or practiced a down of football since the Cowboys' final game of the 2016 regular season, Jan. 1, 2017. That's a long time away, a full 18 months, but remember, add another four months to that, with only two games played.

So, as defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli says, let's get him in his stance, first, then go from there. Time away naturally hampers skills. But at least Gregory, under the guidance of former Raider Greg Townsend, has been working out for the past month, ever since petitioning the league back in mid-June for reinstatement when he and his representatives met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
While the Cowboys are excited over his return, they are realistic at this point over expectations right off the bat. Meaning, when asked about what we think Gregory can do this year, we'll put this in the "we'll see" category, right along with another dozen unknowns the Cowboys are facing.
Fine. But at least Gregory has a shot.

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Macarthur said:

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Hope the guy has his life lined out.

I think his case is a textbook example of why we need to rethink our pot stance as a nation. I don't remember the specifics but wasn't he the guy that battled mental health issues and used pot to help with that?

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Lloyd Christmas looking Mark Davis

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BassCowboy33 said:

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I'll never understand why guys risk fortune and fame for the pipe.

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I spent some time watching the tight ends in their various drills and I can say with great confidence that, in terms of running routes, Blake Jarwin is the best of the bunch, with Dalton Schultz a solid second.

Jarwin is quick off the line, has great body control in and out of cuts and catches the ball with authority. I was happy to observe that Schultz catches the ball easily and naturally; in a two-minute drill against air, he ran a corner route that required him to catch the ball over his left shoulder, and he made it look easy.

The less good news on this front is that Rico Gathers was by far the worst of the bunch.

He lacks explosion and dropped a couple of balls that hit him right in the hands. Most condemning, to my mind, was Gathers' lack of body control; he struggled to stay above his feet when cutting and therefore had difficulty getting out of his breaks.

As a result, he tended to round off the routes that Jarwin ran crisply. Obviously, I'm working from a small sample size but, based on this one day, I'd be shocked if Gathers makes the roster.

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