Tight End Rico Gathers already had an uphill climb to return to the Dallas Cowboys’ 53-man roster in 2019. But that climb just got even steeper; the NFL handed down a one-game suspension to Gathers today for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.
If he does make the team this year, with Dallas or anyone else, Rico will have to sit out Week One of the season without pay.
#Cowboys TE Rico Gathers is suspended without pay for the first game of the 2019 regular season for violating the NFL’s policy and program on substances of abuse. This is from his arrest in 2018 for marijuana possession.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 14, 2019
Gathers’ chances of returning in 2019 were already hurt by Jason Witten’s reversed retirement. He dropped to fourth on the TE depth chart behind Witten, Blake Jarwin, and Dalton Schultz, and Dallas only kept three tight ends last year.
The Cowboys also added Codey McElroy as a developmental player during the offseason.
While the suspension is news, the incident that led to it is not. Dallas already knew about the arrest, which occurred in early September of 2018, and have kept Gathers around up until now.
The NFL’s substance abuse system is pretty formulaic, so the Cowboys likely anticipated this suspension all along. This may not change anything about how they value Rico Gathers for the 2019 season.
Nevertheless, a player who can’t help you in Week One and is a liability for ever longer suspensions down the road is definitely a red flag against Gathers’ job security.
