UPDATE: Despite reports earlier Sunday which stated that Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory's 10-game suspension had been overturned due to an appeal, Gregory is still reportedly facing that 10-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy.
According to multiple reporters -- USA Today's Tom Pelissero, ESPN's Ed Werder, NFL Network's Ian Rapport, and the Dallas Morning News -- Gregory's four-game suspension officially began, but his 10-game ban is still pending. The hearing for an appeal, per Werder, has yet to occur.
Those reports come into conflict with what the The Star-Telegram, ESPN and NFL.com reported earlier Sunday.
Clarence E. Hill Jr. of the Star-Telegram reported that Randy Gregory had won his appeal and won't be hit with a 10-game ban. Gregory still is, however, suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the league's substance-abuse policy.
The Cowboys are also without DeMarcus Lawrence (four-game suspension) and linebacker Rolando McClain (10 games -- or longer).
Gregory was originally suspended for the first four games of the upcoming season back in February, which came after he already failed a drug test at the 2015 NFL combine. As CBS Sports' Jared Dubin wrote when news of the four-game suspension surfaced, the "failed test reportedly entered him into the league's substance abuse program, which means he likely failed three more tests (assuming this violation, like the previous one, was for marijuana) to get this suspension."
In late July, Gregory reportedly checked himself into a rehab center. And, as ESPN's Todd Archer reported at the time, Gregory violated the league's substance-abuse policy, again, and faced a longer suspension. Another failed drug test would've resulted in a 10-game ban.
The Star-Telegram, in its report that Gregory won his appeal, added that Gregory is still in rehab. Considering he hasn't practiced with the team this summer, there's a real chance that Gregory isn't in playing shape. He'll have time, at least, to work himself back into shape. The Cowboys' fifth game of the season won't come until Oct. 9.
Gregory, taken 60th overall last year, went without a sack in his first season. Considering the suspension of Lawrence (eight sacks last year) and the absence of Greg Hardy (a headache but an effective pass rusher), the Cowboys will need Gregory to develop into the kind of pass rusher he was at Nebraska if they are to compete for a playoff spot this season.
"He's got gifts. He understands he has gifts, God's gifts," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in May. "He's got great human skills, personality. He is nothing short of brilliant. Certainly he has his demons. A lack of understanding of where he is is not one of them.
"We pray for him. We want him to him to have the kind of career his gifts would allow him to have, which is an exceptional, exceptional football player. He is probably the top rusher in the last two drafts. We need him. We want to get him back."
