Cowboys’ Defensive Deficiencies Spell Failure in Pursuit of NFC East Crown

There is no such word as “rebuilding” in the dictionary of the Dallas Cowboys. Every year is supposed to be the year the Cowboys make it back to the Super Bowl.

Despite a 4-12 nightmare of a 2015 season, the Cowboys entered 2016 thinking quick turnaround. So far this summer, the only thing that’s happened quickly is a Dallas defense that wasn’t great to begin with falling apart.

And with it, any chance the Cowboys had of contending in the NFC East this year.

The latest blow came on Tuesday. As Todd Archer and Adam Schefter of ESPN reported, second-year defensive end Randy Gregory has checked into a treatment facility in light of another pending suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweeted, Gregory won’t be taking the field anytime soon:

My understanding of Randy Gregory’s coming suspension is its for 10 games, at least. There is concern on #Cowboys that he may not play again

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 26, 2016

Mind you, Gregory was already facing suspension for the first four games of the 2016 season for the same offense. If the 10-game ban is tacked onto that, the season’s all but gone. According to Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, it is gone—the former Nebraska standout won’t play this season…if ever again.

It was a failed drug test at the 2015 combine that caused Gregory to fall to Round 2 to begin with. It would have taken at least three more failed drug tests to trigger the four-game suspension. And as Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole reported, a source told him that Gregory failed “several” more tests since then:

Source: #Cowboys DE Randy Gregory failed multiple tests since being suspended. No surprise given reports from @Edwerderespn, @AdamSchefter

— Jason Cole (@JasonColeBR) July 26, 2016

In other words, Gregory appears to be a young man with a serious substance abuse problem. Team owner Jerry Jones told Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News that right now the priority is getting Gregory the help he needs.

“There’s no question he needs the kind of help and care he’s getting right now,” Jones said. “We have no official notification from the league. We are first and foremost interested in how he can address his addiction and get to where he can function in society.”

With that said, Gregory’s problem leaves the Cowboys with big problems all their own—because he’s far from the only Dallas defender who hasn’t been able to stay out of trouble this offseason.

Fellow defensive end Demarcus Lawrence, who led the Cowboys with eight sacks in 2015, will be serving a four-game suspension of his own to open the 2016 season after his appeal was denied at the end of June. According to Archer and Jean-Jacques Taylor of ESPN.com, Lawrence’s ban is for testing positive for amphetamines.

It would have been a sizable hit for a Dallas defense that ranked 25th in the NFL in sacks to have been without Lawrence and Gregory (arguably their two best pass-rushers) for just the four games each Dallas originally thought it was looking at. Now Gregory is out indefinitely…

And that still isn’t all the bad news the Cowboys have received on defense in recent weeks.

Starting middle linebacker Rolando McClain, who finished third on the team with 80 tackles last year, …

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