The Denver Broncos have signed a number of terrible free agents in the past, and one of their most recent additions just never showed up for his new squad. After acquiring Russell Wilson and employing Nathaniel Hackett, the team signed Gregory to a five-year, $70 million contract a few years ago, which proved to be possibly the third largest blunder of George Paton’s tenure.
Denver shipped Gregory to the San Francisco 49ers, and the veteran pass rusher then signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in free agency this offseason, but here’s the problem:
“Gregory missed three mandatory minicamp practices, 24 days of training camp (which include practice days, meeting days, travel days, team activities and preseason game days). Gregory missed one preseason game (against the Cincinnati Bengals). The agreement to release him was reached on Aug. 15th (but not reported until Saturday), meaning Saturday’s preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars was not counted in the total of training camp days missed.
Gregory was fined approximately $1,377,549 for time missed with the Buccaneers, who also can collect a certain percentage of his bonus based on number of days missed.”– Jenna Laine
Yeah. He just… didn’t show up? In a very odd situation, the newly-signed Buccaneer just did not show up this offseason, missed a ton of practices, and was recently released by the team. It’s an odd situation for Gregory, who has been in and out of the league for years due to various suspensions for some shaky off-field behavior.
In 10 total games for the Denver Broncos, Randy Gregory racked up three sacks, 12 total tackles, four tackles for loss, and nine QB hits. It’s still unclear why Gregory did not report, and with the Buccaneers releasing him, you have to figure that Randy Gregory’s time in the NFL may be over, officially.
He was a second-round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys and missed the entirety of the 2017 and 2019 NFL seasons. The Broncos signed him after his best year in 2021, a year in which he had six sacks and 17 QB hits in 12 games. There was basically no reason to give Gregory the contract that he got in free agency, but George Paton has never really been seen as a great GM.
It’s good that the Denver Broncos admitted their mistake with Gregory and now, the team’s pass-rush department looks a lot more stable with Nik Bonitto, Baron Browning, Jonathon Cooper, and rookie draft pick Jonah Elliss. The team also had Frank Clark on the roster for a short time, and that signing simply didn’t work out.
It’s nice that the young guys proved themselves a bit in 2023. We’ll see if they can take another leap in 2024. The defensive front does truly need it, but it’s good that the Denver Broncos parted ways with Randy Gregory when they did.
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