Cowboys Re-Sign Randy Gregory? Awful Idea

FRISCO - We said this for years while former Dallas Cowboys pass-rusher Randy Gregory was working feverishly to get his life in order amid clamoring from outsiders for him to return to the team ... and we are going to say it even more firmly now that he's signed with the Tampa Bay Bucs, only to go AWOL on them.

More clamoring about Gregory and the Cowboys - this time fans and media urging a reunion - is horribly misguided. And here's why: Gregory's personal demons are such that he has every reason to work toward finding himself.

And not toward finding himself an NFL job.

Gregory signed with the Bucs this offseason in an attempt to salvage what is left of a career that launched in Dallas when he was a roll-of-the-dice second-round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. The bulk of his time here was spent on league suspension for drug- and behavior-related issues ... essentially a half-decade of the team waiting on him ... and Gregory trying to fight his way onto the field.

It almost worked; the Cowboys made him a handsome contract offer to remain in Dallas in 2022, only to have him foolishly balk because of a clause in the proposal that he frankly misunderstood.

Off he went to Denver, where he flopped. Off he went to San Francisco, where he flopped again. And then to Tampa Bay on a cheap prove-it deal ... and his worst-ever flop, as he never even bothered to show up for work, forcing the Bucs to recently announced they'd "reached an agreement'' to part with Gregory.

"Reached an agreement'' - a pretty way of saying they and cut him.

Said Bucs coach Todd Bowles regarding Gregory's reasoning for not showing up to play for his $3 million: "I'll never find out ... Can't miss what you never had."

Could Gregory's absence be the result of something innocuous? People who care about him certainly hope so. Something more dramatic? Anyone who has followed Gregory's career knows that's possible, too.

Want drama? Gregory filed a discrimination lawsuit against the NFL this offseason, claiming the Broncos, along with the NFL, prevented him from taking a prescribed synthetic cannabis and then fined him for testing positive for the drug.

Related: Lawson On Signing in Dallas: 'The Stars Aligned!'

His lawsuit against the league claims disability discrimination.

Gregory has also filed two discrimination complaints with the Colorado Civil Rights Division, claiming violations of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, and requested a jury ruling to find the NFL violated his rights and award damages.

When it's all said and done, there are plenty of reasons for his old acquaintances in Dallas to worry about Randy Gregory - and trust me, they do. But there are no reasons for anybody in Dallas to think about a Randy reunion, because that's not at all the kind of help he needs.