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- Mar 18, 2019
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When Randy Gregory got on the field for the Cowboys in Week Six, it was a return to football that some didn’t expect for Gregory, who has been suspended multiple times for violating the league’s substance abuse policies. Gregory is now opening up about how getting help for anxiety has allowed him to get his career back on track.
Gregory told USA Today that he’s been working hard on his mental health and that he’s in a much better place than he was the last time he played in the NFL, in 2018.
“Any person that knows my situation or knows people dealing with my situation knows this is not a straight line to success,” Gregory said. “You’re going to take some detours, you’re going to have some hiccups. I’ve had a lot of those. I’ve been in this same spot before in the past where people are questioning whether or not I could stay on the straight and narrow. My anxiety is going to be something I deal with on a day-to-day basis. It’s not something I can really X out of my life. But I really truly feel like I have all the tools in place, all the resources and most importantly the right mindset to stay available.”
Gregory’s agent Peter Schaffer said there’s a misconception about Gregory and why he repeatedly failed drug tests.
“It’s just not all an addiction problem,” Schaffer said. “He has a social anxiety disorder and that causes him to be uncomfortable in certain situations. Historically, the two things he’d done to deal with that were one, smoke marijuana, or two, just to avoid. I told him: Avoiding is not the answer.”
Gregory’s return to the field is a significant accomplishment for a man whose NFL future was once in doubt.