The NFL has suspended Dallas Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory indefinitely. It’s the fourth time the 2015 draftee has been pinched by the league for violating its substance-abuse policy. Gregory has previously admitted to using marijuana to help cope with chronic anxiety.
After playing in 12 games as a rookie, Gregory missed the first 14 games of the 2016 season, before missing all of 2017. Gregory failed two drug tests in college at Nebraska and another at the NFL’s scouting combine. The Cowboys have stuck with Gregory over the last four years, and before his latest suspension, Gregory was enrolled in Stage 3 of the NFL’s drug program, meaning he was subject to, among other conditions, as many as 10 unannounced drug tests a month and mandatory treatment.
Any player in Stage 3 who fails to meet the conditions set by the league faces a minimum one-year ban. After a year, the player can apply for reinstatement but must prove he was clean the entire time he was out, provide proof of drug treatment and go through a series of meetings with league personnel. It’s no guarantee that a player who picks up a suspension after already being enrolled in Stage 3 will ever be reinstated.
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