Getty Cowboys former second-rounder Randy Gregory
It has been nine years since the Cowboys made Randy Gregory their second-round pick out of Nebraska, a stunning move for a player who was easily projected to be a first-rounder but had dropped like a stone as word about character concerns spread. Those concerns proved valid—he failed three drug tests in his first two seasons and was suspended altogether for the 2017 season.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote of Gregory and the woebegone 2015 draft class,“What the Cowboys did in 2015 was a roster-crushing bust. … A top-10 talent fell into the second round because of character concerns. Jerry saw a deal and drafted Gregory. The Cowboys learned firsthand what those concerns are — he flunks drug tests. He was kicked out of the league.”
Indeed, Gregory played just 14 games in his first three years with the Cowboys, and the stigma of his drug suspensions (he had another with the Cowboys in 2019) followed him. Now, though, Gregory is hitting back.
According to documents posted to Twitter/X by Justin Wingerter of Business Den, Gregory is suing the Denver Broncos and the NFL to recoup $532,000 worth of fines that have been doled out because of his use of THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana.
Randy Gregory has PTSD, Social Anxiety Disorder
In the complaint, Gregory asserts that he was diagnosed with PTSD and social anxiety disorder, and that Dr. Alan Shackelford prescribed him a THC-based drug, dronabinol, to treat the condition last February.
The suit states about Gregory’s prescription: “Dr. Shackelford believes that this treatment protocol which includes the medicine dronabinol is the most appropriate treatment for the medical conditions with which Mr. Gregory has been diagnosed.
“Dr. Shackelford believes that the medications usually prescribed to treat those conditions such as the opioids and benzodiazepine are fraught with significant side effects, including addiction, overdose and dangerous drug-drug interactions and that dronabinol therapy is orders of magnitude safer than opioids and other prescription drugs commonly prescribed for those conditions, dosing is significantly easier to modulate, and it is likely to be more effective.”
Gregory sought permission from the league to use dronabinol and, when that was denied, applied to the NFL for a Therapeutic Use Exemption. That was also denied. Gregory claims that the Broncos and NFL then fined him a total of $532,000 over the following 13 months.
That puts the team and the league, according to Gregory’s side, in violation of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.
Cowboys Tenure Could Have Been Different Without Drug Suspensions
Gregory, of course, had become one of the faces for some of the rough drafts that the Cowboys had in the middle 2010s, and the fact that he struggled to stay on the field and available for the team during his early career probably should be seen in a different light now that he has acknowledged his diagnosis of PTSD and social anxiety disorder.
The league has basically stopped suspending players like Gregory for marijuana-related offenses.
When Gregory did put together a full season as a key Cowboy, he excelled, racking up 6.0 sacks in 12 games in 2021. He parlayed that into a sizable five-year, $70 million contract (only $28 million was guaranteed) from the Broncos.
But Denver quickly gave up on Gregory and put him on the trade block. The Cowboys were said to have interest at the time, but he was ultimately dealt to San Francisco.
Gregory signed with the Buccaneers in April for one year and $3 million.