ARLINGTON, Texas – Joseph Randle will be on the Cowboys' flight to London, and his status with the team is not in any jeopardy, team owner/general manager Jerry Jones confirmed Sunday.
Despite notching one carry for just two yards, Randle was a huge talking point in the wake of the Cowboys' 28-17 loss to the Cardinals. That's not totally surprising, given that Randle was at the center of a practice altercation involving Dez Bryant and Jason Witten on Friday.
It was enough to prompt questions about Randle's future with the organization being in doubt – which Jones quickly dismissed after the game.
"Certainly, he's lighter in the pocket book because of it – considerably lighter," Jones said. "As a matter of fact, he got a few reps out there tonight. But his position is not in jeopardy."
Video surfaced last week of Randle's booking session at Frisco City Jail on Oct. 13, the night he was arrested for shoplifting at Stonebriar Centre Mall. In the video, the second-year running back compared his own arrest to the legal problems faced by both Bryant and suspended defensive tackle Josh Brent.
Bryant took issue with the comments, which led to the argument on Friday, but he said the issue has since been taken care of.
"I had my talk with him, and – there's certain things you just don't do," Bryant said. "We fixed it, we're good. That's my little buddy."
That didn't seem like a sure bet during the weekend, as it was revealed Cowboys coach Jason Garrett called a team meeting to address the topic. With Randle having offended team leaders like Bryant and Witten, there was plenty of speculation about Randle's future with the team.
"Those types of things usually are cleared as they're coming out the mouth. We all get that worked out," Jones said. "With as much other things to think about – the physicalness, the demands that you have working together – some of that kind of stuff is pretty quickly forgotten."
Garrett met with both the individual players involved in the incident, as well as the team as a whole. Asked about it in his postgame press conference, however, he downplayed the significance of those conversations.
"It's my job as the leader of the group to address the things that we feel need to be addressed. Not a big deal to our football team at all," Garrett said.[embeddedad0]
Bryant seemed to agree with that assessment, as he went as far as to say he understood Randle's position of trying to keep calm in a stressful situation. He added that Randle apologized for the comments.
"He made a mistake, and you forgive people – that's what you do," Bryant said. "He's a great player, he's a great player. You live and you learn. I've had my mistakes -- you live and you learn."
