PALM BEACH, Fla. — Randy Gregory, the Broncos’ newly acquired $14 million-a-year pass rusher, recently underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his rotator cuff, a source told 9NEWS.
Gregory will spend the off-season program rehabbing his shoulder with the expectation of being ready for the start of the season.
While there were conservative treatment options, Gregory and the Broncos decided when he was signed that the scope procedure will give him the best chance of playing a full season without any discomfort.
> The video above is from March 15.
A source said Gregory’s shoulder was evaluated during his physical after agreeing to terms on a five-year, $70 million contract with the Broncos. The scope and rehab became their treatment plan to fix the shoulder once-and-for-all with Gregory’s long-term health in mind.
Gregory has been spotted in recent days wearing a sling, which is due to come off in another week.
With the relative high success rate of the procedure, the Broncos do not appear overly concerned with Gregory’s shoulder. If they were, they would have had the right to call of the deal on the grounds of a failed physical.
Despite playing with some shoulder discomfort with the Cowboys last year, Gregory had his most productive season with 6.0 sacks in 12 games.
Gregory is 29 and has been in the league since 2015 but has only played in 50 games because of various suspensions from violations of the NFL substance abuse policy.
In evaluating the pass rushers available in free agency, general manager George Paton was foremost impressed by Gregory’s talent.
"It’s a fun watch," Paton said of Gregory’s film in a sit-down interview with 9News this week. "First of all you’ve got to get with the tape and how does he fit with the team? And he brings everything we’re looking for in an outside backer. In the run game, he’s very disruptive. He’s long, he’s strong, he’s passionate and he’s a prototypical pass rusher with his burst, explosion. And so we watched all the outside backers in free agency, he’s the one that jumped off the tape.
"We all watched him individually, then we came together and watched him as a group. Had the coaches watch him. We had a lot of eyes on him."
There just won’t be eyes on him during the Broncos’ offseason program which begins April 11 with conditioning, followed by OTAs in May and the veteran mandatory minicamp in mid-June.
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