Jerry Jones Reveals Controversial '2 Better Than 1' View on Cowboys Losing Randy Gregory
FRISCO - Randy Gregory has put the Dallas Cowboys behind him, and owner Jerry Jones swears it is for the better - for two controversial reasons.
One, Jones referred to the signing of edge rushers Dorance Armstrong and Dante Fowler with the money they were going to spend on Gregory by saying, “I’d rather have the two than the one.”
Two, Jones made a sly reference to Gregory’s "availability'' being an issue during his time with the Cowboys.
One of Jones' favorite chestnuts is, "The most important 'ability' is 'avail-ability.''' And of course, Gregory famously missed a huge chunk of the half-decade he spent in the Cowboys' employ while under NFL suspension for his involvement in the league's substance abuse program.
Jones reiterated that Gregory is one of his all-time favorite people who've ever played here. But he also said the price "got too high for the team."
"If you've got a big question mark on availability,'' Jones said at the team's Tuesday pre-draft presser here inside The Star, "do you want to strap on millions and millions of dollars?"
What was "too high''? The terminology, really - the terminology designed to protect Dallas from any Gregory "unavailability.''
Earlier this spring, just moments after the Cowboys announced they had agreed to terms on a new five-year deal with the defensive end, Gregory (and his agent) has a changing of the mind, spurning Dallas to instead agree to a five-year, $70 million deal with Denver.
"This is a week I'll never forget,'' Gregory wrote back then on IG while at dinner at Elway's Steakhouse. "(I) appreciate the Broncos organization for believing in me.''
"Belief.'' Trust. Gregory feels he got that in Denver's offer ... and not in Dallas'.
Gregory's agent, Peter Schaffer, alleges the Cowboys - who had on the table the same dollars and years in their deal as the Broncos did - inserted language into the proposal that his side found offensive.
The language concerns the possibility of forfeiture of guaranteed money in the event of fines or suspensions by the NFL related to the league's Policy and Program on Substances of Abuse, an area in which Gregory has a history of trouble. He's battled back from his issues and in 2021 recorded six sacks while showing signs of dominance.
But the fact is, Gregory has missed more than 50 games due to suspension and has yet to play a full season. So the clause is in his contract - as it is, as a standard operating procedure in most Cowboys contracts.
Schaffer has insisted he's never in "30 years in this business'' seen such a clause. But in fact, again, it is standard in Dallas deals ... including the last guaranteed-money deal Gregory himself signed with the Cowboys.
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Nevertheless, a feeling of distrust resulted. Should the Cowboys have deleted or softened the wording? Should Schaffer have either better-understood himself or better-explained to Gregory the wording? Are the Cowboys better off with Armstrong plus Fowler vs. Gregory? They are left having to bet on it.
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