Dallas Cowboys: What should the Cowboys do with Randy Gregory?

The Dallas Cowboys have a pretty unique situation when it comes to Randy Gregory. Should the Cowboys keep the troubled pass rusher?

The Dallas Cowboys are in a weird place with one of the most important pieces of their roster, defensive end, Randy Gregory. The Nebraska star was once thought of as the next great pass rusher for Dallas.

Now, the Cowboys will be lucky just to get him on the field. After several suspensions, Gregory is on the outside looking in and Dallas is going to have to figure out what to do with one of their most troubled stars.

The Dallas Cowboys basically could basically have the rights to Gregory’s contract for the next two seasons however that is not a long time to turn around what has been an absolutely terrible start to his career.

Even if Gregory is reinstated and has a productive two seasons in the NFL there is no guarantee that the Cowboys would even want to keep him. Why would Dallas continue to put effort into a player who is such a risk?

It is important to remember David Irving’s sudden success basically is due to Gregory who missed enough time for Irving to make an impact. Irving has also had issues with suspensions and just staying on the field in general so things may not be so black and white.

Right now the Dallas Cowboys are better off with David Irving, however, he is going to cost them a lot more money than Gregory who really does not hold a lot of value. It would be rather puzzling to see a team trade a high pick or even a decent pick for Gregory’s services as no one has really seen him on the field consistently.

He was thought to be a first-round pass rusher who has had some off the field issues. It turns out those issues were bigger than expected so we never got to see just how good he really was.

The trade market would be so small for Gregory that the Dallas Cowboys might as well hang on to the troubled star and see if they could get something for him down the road. The team has seemingly seen Gregory as a non-factor, and anything that happens with him that is positive is a bonus.

But that is wishful thinking at best, the Cowboys were clearly frustrated with Gregory but you simply cannot wash your hands of a second round pick, the position in which he was selected is too valuable.

If the Cowboys passed on Gregory they could have landed more productive players such as Tyler Lockett, Danielle Hunter, Tevin Coleman, Landon Collins, Trey Flowers, or even David Johnson.

That is pretty disappointing when you think about how elite some of the players listed above are. Selecting Gregory was a risk but I don’t even believe that the Cowboys knew what kind of risk they were taking at the time. 

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It is a risk that has had ripple effects to this very day. Who knows which top-tier player could have had productive seasons for Dallas instead of Gregory and now as we begin to see an end to this saga, was it worth it is one of those questions the Dallas Cowboys front office will ask themselves for a long period of time.

Gregory has expressed an interest in returning to the football field in 2018, the Cowboys may not know in what capacity but this whole process will likely begin with reinstatement. 

Next: Dallas Cowboys: Can the team be fixed in free agency?

If Gregory can get back to the league and prove he belongs, there will at the very least be a silver lining at the end of this story. If not and he either does not return or does not doing anything noteworthy, the Cowboys will have likely wasted a second-round pick in a draft that was very important for the defensive side of the ball.