It has been a difficult road back to the field for Dallas Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory after dealing with multiple suspensions due to violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy.
However, Gregory has been on track to be ready to play for the 2018 season, which team owner Jerry Jones echoed that he expects the 25-year-old to contribute in Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers, according to Jon Machota of The Dallas Morning News.
Jones said he expects Gregory to be ready to contribute Week 1 when Dallas opens the season at Carolina.
The 2015 second round pick hasn't played in an NFL game since Week 17 of the 2016 season.
“Everybody here is rooting for him,” Jones said. “He doesn't want any slack but I know he sees the care that everybody has for him. I did notice some of his trademark skill out there on a couple of snaps that he took out there [Sunday].
“You could see that sleekness. He's just got the ability to create some pressure.”
Gregory has missed 30 out of the last 32 regular-season games due to violating the league’s substance abuse policy multiple times. In fact, the last time that he played in an NFL game was back in the 2016 regular season finale. Since then, it was a struggle to stay on the field that he finally appears to be past his previous issues.
His impact has been minimal on the field in his first two years as he played in just two games where he recorded a sack with nine total tackles in 2016. Before that, he was limited to only 12 games in his rookie campaign due to an ankle injury where he notched seven total tackles.
This is his chance to prove that he can be a real impact player while showing that he is past the previous issues that have put him in this precarious standing with the NFL moving forward in his career.
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