Broncos’ Randy Gregory won’t be suspended

Randy Gregory hit Oday Aboushi during the postgame handshakes last Sunday. He admitted it in the locker room, too, saying, “Y’all wanna know if I hit him in the mouth? I did.” He added that Aboushi hit him back.

A camera captured it all.

But after the NFL announced a one-game suspension for him Monday, the league took it back.

NFL announced that appeals officers Derrick Brooks and James Thrash – jointly appointed by the NFL and NFLPA – have reduced the discipline assessed to Randy Gregory and Oday Aboushi from one-game suspensions to fines of $50,000 for Gregory and $12,000 for Aboushi.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 28, 2022

Gregory will not escape punishment. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the Broncos edge rusher will receive a $50,000 fine for hitting Aboushi first. But it means that he can play against the Kansas City Chiefs on New Year’s Day — if his knee is healthy enough.

Last week, Gregory did not practice. But he passed a pregame test at SoFi Stadium. He played just 11 snaps before then-coach Nathaniel Hackett pulled him for good after a roughing-the-passer penalty.

Gregory’s postgame actions were among the reasons cited by Broncos CEO Greg Penner in discussing why he fired Hackett, two weeks before the end of a dispiriting season. He noted issues away from the field. In addition to Gregory’s hit of Aboushi, guard Dalton Risner and QB Brett Rypien had a sideline confrontation that resulted in Risner shoving Rypien.

“We would have liked to have been patient until the end of the season to make a decision at that point. We didn’t go into this week thinking this was a time we were going to make a change,” Penner said Tuesday, “but after the effort that we put forward on Sunday and some of the things that were going on off the field, we just felt like it was time to make a decision.”

That was the Broncos’ decision. And now the league’s decision is that Gregory is eligible to play in Jerry Rosburg’s debut.