Dallas Cowboys defensive tackles coach Leon Lett knows a thing or two about what Randy Gregory is going through now.
Back during the Big Cat’s playing days, Lett was once suspended for the equivalent of a season without pay for failing two drug tests within the span of a little over a calendar year. He missed three games in 1996 and 13 games in 1997. But when he returned for his first full season back, in 1998, he made the second Pro Bowl of his career, a full four years removed from his first.
Lett is confident Gregory, who has been suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, can bounce back in similar fashion.
“I trust him," Lett said, per Jean-Jacques Taylor of ESPN Dallas. “I’ve been where he's been. I know what it takes to overcome it.”
Of course, it’ll help that Gregory has all the physical tools to be a dominant pass rusher.
"Sometimes, guys are so talented they don't know how they make certain plays, they just do it," Lett said. "So they don't always have the most confidence. I've been where Randy is. He can't take all that stuff on the field with him, he just needs to play. He might need to reach inside himself and pull out his inner Charles Haley and just get angry and take it out on the other team."
