Are Cowboys Preparing For Life Without Dez Bryant?
The Dallas Cowboys have a big decision to make regarding the future of wide receiver Dez Bryant.
Bryant, who is one of the highest paid wide receivers in the league, failed to reach 1,000 receiving yards for the third consecutive season, despite playing in all 16 games.
With Bryant’s production not meeting expectations, the Cowboys are expected to ask him to restructure his contract and release him if he doesn’t agree to a reduced contract.
Bryant, who is due to make $12.5 million in 2018, has a $16.5 million cap figure. The Cowboys can release him and save $8 million. They can designate him a post-June 1 cut and save $12 million and he will count $4 million against the 2019 cap.
Cowboys VP Stephen Jones recently discussed Bryant’s situation on the team’s “Hangin’ with the Boys” podcast.
“We pay Dez a lot of money, and he knows that. He’s aware of it as anybody when he talks to Jerry and myself,” Stephen Jones said. “He knows when you get paid that kind of money, there’s high expectations in terms of the productivity. Those are all things that we have to look at as a team, as an organization, when we start to put our team together for next year.”
Jones also added that Bryant’s sideline outbursts are a distraction to the team and something he needs to work on in the future.
“Well, Dez is an emotional guy. He plays with emotion. That’s part of his game,” Stephen Jones said in this Dallas Morning News story. “We work with him constantly on trying to really channel his energy in positive ways. I just think when he has those types of emotional roller coasters, I think at the end of the day he needs to understand that it does affect more than just Dez.”
“He loves his teammates. He obviously has made so many great plays for us over the years but when you start to look at the things that we need to be better at, that’s one of them. I think he needs to understand that it’s not something that’s just affecting him, it does affect his teammates.”
