The Dallas Cowboys weren’t expected to have much of a star presence when they made a pit stop in the desert as part of their weekend travels. Training camp in Oxnard, CA wrapped up on Wednesday, but on the way back to Frisco the club stopped by to visit old NFC East rivals, the Arizona Cardinals. Even though they got some work in pre-game, it was well known quarterback Dak Prescott, running back Ezekiel Elliott and WR Amari Cooper weren’t going to play, and neither were several defensive players.
A surprise though was that DE Randy Gregory, who as recently as Wednesday spoke to his desire to play on Friday night, wasn’t in the lineup. Nor was he in the building, returning to Dallas early for an undisclosed reason.
Randy Gregory was not at Friday night’s pre-season game.
Sources said the Cowboys DE was given clearance to return to Dallas ahead of the team & is expected to be at The Star on Monday when the team resumes practice.
Gregory spoke 2 days ago about wanting to play vs. Arizona.
— David Moore (@DavidMooreDMN) August 14, 2021
Folks found out after the game that Gregory has a foot issue. He and Dalton Schultz (ankle) were surprise scratches who were sent back ahead of the rest of the team.
Perhaps the Cowboys should’ve sent everyone they consider relevant to the upcoming season home as well. The carnage was real as Dallas suffered multiple injuries on the way to a 19-16 defeat at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals. The score and result are wholly unimportant, but here’s what could be taken away that may matter.