Englewood, Colorado. – To end what he called a “crazy, crazy week”, a defensive end Randy Gregory He was officially introduced by the Denver Broncos on Friday after he signed his five-year, $70 million contract.
The heart of the highly publicized Gregory was a return to the Dallas Cowboys that the team announced on their social media accounts earlier this week to sign with the Broncos detailing parts of the contract as well as some heavy recruiting from the Broncos quarterback. Russell Wilson.
Gregory said: “It’s been a really crazy week… It’s been crazy… But it was worth the wait. My family is happy. I think the Broncos are happy. I’m happy.”
Gregory said Friday that he did not want to go into detail on the differences in contract language between the deal the Cowboys made and the one he signed with the Broncos. Multiple sources traced some of the differences to a forfeiture clause in the deal in Dallas that would force Gregory to forfeit the funds if he was fined or suspended.
Many teams have such clauses if players are suspended, but not fined. The Cowboys in particular made this clause a standard part of the team’s contracts with all of its players except for the quarterback Duck Prescott.
“We thought he was going to the Cowboys, you win some, you lose some, we thought we lost him,” said George Patton, general manager of Broncos. “Wake up in the morning feeling much better… with your punches and don’t overreact.”
Gregory said the Broncos asked him tough questions about his past and that he tried to give honest answers. The 29-year-old has a 54-game suspension in his career for violations of the league’s drug policy.
Due to these suspensions as well as a variety of injuries, Gregory has never started more than 11 games per season and has never finished with more than six sacks.
Gregory said, “They asked all the right questions…I really felt like the conversations between the couple went really well and I think they both felt safe with what was needed for me to succeed and where they could accommodate me. I think everyone felt really comfortable with my answers, I hope.”
Wilson also played his part as Gregory said Wilson called him “eight times” when the negotiation period for the Free Agents began on Monday.
“He hit me a lot,” Gregory said. “That first night I was afraid to answer, [there was] Lots of uncertainty with everything going on, and I woke up the next morning that the first text was from him again. Then he sent me another one, and he remembered that he was FaceTiming me throughout this whole process, just being there in the back of my mind.
Gregory said Wilson at one point used FaceTime while Wilson was leaving for a visit to Children’s Hospital.
“He was coming from Children’s Hospital,” Gregory said. “Take the time to get in touch with someone trying to bring him to the team.” …I must say hi to his wife Ciara, it was a fun experience. ”
“Alcohol enthusiast. Twitter ninja. Tv lover. Falls down a lot. Hipster-friendly coffee geek.”