SAN JOSE, Calif. – The Denver Broncos altered their plan to dump high-priced pass-rusher Randy Gregory at the end of the week by instead swapping him to the San Francisco 49ers … right on the eve of the 49ers’ huge Week 5 home game against the Dallas Cowboys – all of which created an interesting twist for Cowboys Nation. Did you want Randy Gregory back on your team? All things considered – even the fact that the Niners’ cost here was nothing but a flip of a seventh-round pick for a sixth-round pick – you did not.
At the same time, did you especially want to play against him on “Sunday Night Football”? Even though Gregory has just three sacks in his two lost years in Denver … no, you probably did not. And now? On Friday, shortly after the completion of the trade, a source close to Gregory tells CowboysSI.com that the former Cowboys’ second-round pick, who spent more than half a decade in Dallas battling behavior challenges and NFL suspensions, will not be in uniform for this game.
We do believe that he met with the 49ers in some capacity in order to pass a physical before being given permission to fully join the team in Northern California next week. National media reports have created a sugary-sweet version of the Broncos’ parting with Gregory, 30, saying they “wanted to give him a chance to move to a contender” and they “want to take a look at the younger guys” and the like. There might be some truth in that. But they were also enthusiastic enough about putting behind them their five-year, $70 million mistake that they are footing the bill on the bulk of his contract with the 49ers, paying $10 million for the rest of the season while the 49ers will pay him the veteran minimum.
Gregory – deemed in Denver maybe “the worst free agent signing” ever – does have three years left on his contract, but none of it is guaranteed. … and it is quite likely it is money he will never see … though he does have in his pocket $27 million – or $9 million for each of the sacks he recorded in Denver.
