Dave Martin/AP
Joseph Randle was demoted from starting running back last week.
This is a fairly shocking development after Randle was demoted from starting running back last week, left the team's facilities unannounced, and was dealing with "personal matters."
This also comes after Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he was concerned about Randle's mental well-being.
Randle was expected to take over as the Cowboys starting running back this season in the wake of DeMarco Murray. Through five games, the results were unimpressive, and following a strained oblique and breakout performance from Darren McFadden, the Cowboys demoted Randle.
This is when he left the Cowboys practice facility unannounced, which reportedly bothered team officials who wanted to help Randle heal his injury.
However, ESPN's Adam Schefter and Todd Archer reported last week that the NFL was likely to suspend Randle following an incident last February in which he was arrested on charges of marijuana possession after a domestic violence incident involving the mother of his son. Randle was never charged in the domestic violence incident and the drug charges were later dropped.
Randle was also arrested on a misdemeanor charge of theft last season.
The news of this possible suspension was reportedly the real reason why Randle left the team unannounced.
Randle didn't play in the Cowboys' Week 8 game against the Seahawks, in part because of the strained oblique, but also because of these personal matters. Jones said, "We want to really be supportive and help when we can and not act in a way that looks like the priority would not be your health, but what about your job, what about your football team."
Over the course of one week, Randle went from a starting running back to being unemployed by the NFL.