Todd Bowles says Buccaneers won’t miss Randy Gregory: ‘You can’t miss what you never had’

Football coaches are generally pretty consistent in their comments about players not showing up to training camp. They are concerned about the players who are there to work and practice.

That’s the view of Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Todd Bowles toward edge rusher Randy Gregory, who has reached an agreement with the team. to release this week. Gregory never showed up to training camp or attended mandatory minicamp practices after filing a discrimination complaint against the NFL and the Denver Broncos.

If that’s why Gregory never reported the incident, it doesn’t matter to Bowles because he was never told whether the linebacker’s absence was motivated by his trial.

“I’ll never know, but I wish him the best and we’ll move on from there,” Bowles told ESPN’s Jenna Laine“You can’t regret what you never had.”

Bowles went on to explain that the team has depth at outside linebacker, including players who could still be on the team, and should be fine without Gregory.

Gregory, 32, signed a one-year free agent contract with the Buccaneers in April. Last season, he played 12 games for the San Francisco 49ers after being traded by the Broncos. He totaled 3 1/2 sacks and 20 tackles, six tackles for loss and 10 quarterback hits.

Tampa Bay hoped Gregory could bolster a team that totaled 48 sacks last season, tied for ninth among NFL teams. (Yaya Diaby led the team with 7 1/2 sacks.) The defense lost linebacker Shaquil Barrett, who was released due to a salary cap cut and had 4 1/2 sacks in 2023. (Barrett ultimately retired before training camp with the Miami Dolphins this summer.)

In the trialGregory claimed he was discriminated against by not allowing him to continue taking a THC-containing medication to relieve social anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Players who test positive for THC are no longer suspended by the league, but can be fined because it remains on the NFL’s banned substances list.

In total, Gregory missed 24 days of training camp and three mandatory offseason workouts and was fined nearly $1.4 million for those absences. The Buccaneers can also recoup a percentage of his signing bonus, according to ESPN.