Dallas Cowboys tight end Rico Gathers has been suspended without pay for the first game of the 2019 NFL season for violating the league's policy on substances of abuse, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

The suspension stems from Gathers' arrest for marijuana possession in September of last year. He was detained by police in Frisco, TX after being found with two ounces of marijuana. In a subsequent statement, Gathers expressed remorse for the incident and thanked local authorities.

“Rico was arrested last night and charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana,” his attorneys said in a statement to NFL.com.  “He would like to express his gratitude and respect to the Frisco PD for their professionalism.

“Rico sincerely apologizes to his teammates and the Cowboys organization for any distraction his arrest may cause as the team prepares to start the season. To this end, we will have no further comment while the matter is pending.”

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Gathers was selected by the Cowboys in the sixth round of last year's NFL Draft despite not playing a down of football at Baylor. He was a two-year starter at power forward for the Bears basketball team, twice being named All Big 12 and finishing his playing career as Baylor's all-time leading rebounder.  The 6-foot-6, 273-pounder showed out at the NFL combine, running a 4.66 40-yard dash and bench-pressing 225 pounds 16 times, proving he had the requisite combination of speed and power to transition to football.

Gathers appeared in 15 games with Dallas during his rookie season, finishing with three catches for 45 yards.