Randy Gregory may have filed for reinstatement, so what’s a possible timeline?

There was a point over the summer when reports were circulating that Randy Gregory had filed for reinstatement from his indefinite suspension. Gregory has famously been suspended multiple times for violating the league’s marijuana policy. It turned out that the reports over the summer were premature. Now, though, there are reports that it might finally have happened. Stephen Jones had this to say on Friday:

“It is my understanding that he may have filed for reinstatement,” Jones said. “And then it’s just time that we don’t control in terms of when they ultimately make a decision.”

Obviously the Cowboys would love to have someone of Gregory’s talent back on the field. But Jones makes an interesting point, if Gregory has really applied for reinstatement, the Cowboys are at the mercy of the league in terms of when he could be granted reinstatement.

There is one similar case that might be able to give us somewhat of a timeline. Josh Gordon has had similar issues as Gregory in terms of running afoul of the league’s drug policy. Gordon was similarly indefinitely suspended. On August 8th of this year, it was reported that Gordon had applied for reinstatement.

According to an ESPN report, Josh Gordon has officially applied to the NFL for reinstatement. He is serving an indefinite suspension for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. Gordon was hit with the ban Dec. 20 and missed New England’s final two regular-season games and their playoff march to the Super Bowl.

The process was relatively fast for Gordon, on August 16th he was conditionally reinstated. On Friday, he was reinstated without the conditional part.

Receiver Josh Gordon‘s conditional reinstatement has become an official reinstatement to play in Week One of the 2019 regular season.

According to the NFL, Gordon is eligible to play when the Patriots host the Steelers on September 8 in primetime on NBC.

Given that timeline, if Gregory has applied and if Roger Goodell finds that he eligible to play again, the Cowboys may be able to have him back within a month.

Obviously all of this is predicated on the idea that Gregory has actually applied. If you notice in Stephen Jones’ quote above he says it his understanding that he may have applied. That’s not exactly concrete, so we’ll have to see.