FRISCO, Texas — Meet Randy Gregory, the football player.
For the first time in a long time, that’s who is and what he is about.
It’s the refreshing part of his first full offseason since his rookie season in 2015 when he was the Dallas Cowboys’ second-round draft pick out of Nebraska. That was before he was suspended four times by the NFL for repeated violations of the substance abuse program.
After being reinstated last year and playing in the final 10 games of the 2020 season, he is now just No. 94 playing defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys and hoping to get better in mini camp this week with the rest of his teammates.
“It’s a big deal,” Gregory said. “I think the last time I had an actual training camp where I was involved or mini camp or OTAs or anything like that was rookie year. It’s really refreshing. It’s fun to be around the guys this early and feels good to be out there.”
Not being around his teammates and having too much time to himself has contributed to his past failings.
He said being in the offseason program is keeping him “focused,” giving him “purpose” and keeping him “motivated.”
Every question Gregory fielded for the first 10 minutes of his Zoom call press conference on Tuesday was about football, what he needs to work on and his goals for the upcoming season.
He acknowledged it was a good thing that his past wasn’t the major narrative.
“It’s a win, I would agree,” Gregory said. “I think it’s played out, I think I understand why it’s being asked. I understand that. It takes time to build trust and that’s what I’m going to do. But, yeah, I feel like it’s a win and my goal is to keep on winning and hopefully there will be a day when we can sit here 10-15 minutes and you guys won’t even ask me about my past.”
Gregory isn’t trying to shy away from his past mistakes or what he calls his up-and-down journey in the NFL.
But he is trying to move forward and to the next phase of his career.
“I’ve done a great job the last few years with the team on and off the field and I’m looking forward to the future,” Gregory said. “I’m having fun. I’m doing what I need to do. The coaches love me, the players love me and I’m not worried about all the other stuff. It’s in the past.”
Gregory recorded 3.5 sacks in 2020 in what was his first season since he had 6.5 sacks in 2018. He wanted to do more and felt he could do more but he felt he was being held back by former defensive coordinator Mike Nolan.
He finished second on the team with 12 quarterback hits and third with 16 quarterback pressures.
Gregory expects to have a larger role this season under new coordinator Dan Quinn, who has admired him from afar since his college days at Nebraska.
“I’ve had my eye on Randy for a long time,” Quinn said. “In fact, I went out to Lincoln during the draft process and had a chance to work him out at school and we bonded ... I thought ‘Man, I so badly wanted to coach him,’ because I saw all the traits, all the speed. He just looks so much different now. He’s bigger, he’s faster and stronger than he’s ever been. That really translated onto the field.
“But I’ve been super impressed with Randy’s mindset, his attitude, his willingness to go for it. He wants it straight up, ... Just super impressive to see.
Most impressive is how Gregory now sees himself, and loves himself.
He is more confident and seemingly more at peace with who is and the journey that he has had.
“It’s a lot of self-love,” Gregory said. “There was a time in my life when you could ask me to say one good thing about myself and I couldn’t. I could say 20 bad things. I have come a long way from that. I can say a lot of good things about myself. I am proud of myself. I am proud of where I am at. I am proud of the journey I took. I have made a lot of mistakes. But my best years are to come. Very excited for the future.”
Gregory said he will be all right as long as there remains a lot of positive thinking in his life and he stays around the right people.
He is focused on keeping his priorities right, keeping life simple and avoiding the chaos of the past.
“I think back then I liked chaos,” Gregory said. “Traditionally, I am not like that. I don’t like chaos. I like to keep to myself. I realize that in the past I had a lot of chaotic people around me and it created this mindset that if there wasn’t any chaos I would create my own chaos. I needed to feed off something.”
Now, it’s not so much like that for Gregory. All he did from the end of last season until the start of the offseason program was work out, take care of his family and pay bills.
“This is the most time I have had in the offseason. Trying to keep track of everything and budgeting — like everyone else, I guess,” Gregory said.
Just like everyone else.
