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Irving, TX—Yes, the Dallas Cowboys will bring up Dez Bryant's past during their contract negotiations.
Why wouldn't they?
Who buys a used car without looking at the car fax report? I don't care if it is a Ferrari. You are going to do your homework. You are going to test drive it.
And by NFL wide receiver standards, Bryant is an expensive sports car.
The Cowboys are going to understandably look at the entire package before making the purchase of a lifetime.
But make no mistake about it, this a deal the Cowboys want and plan to make. Says owner Jerry Jones.
What we want to do is have an agreement for the rest of Dez’s career...So that’s what we want. To me that says a lot about the concern about off-the-field concern if we want him on the Dallas Cowboys for the rest of his career. There is more to consider than just how good a player (he is). There’s more to consider than performance. He represents the star. We want him to be proud of that. He can be. I’m real impressed with how he’s evolved over the last several years, or we wouldn’t be in serious contract negotiations with him. So I think all of that is where it really is, and I do look for us to get something done with Dez.
Jones said there is no hesitation on his part about making Bryant a “Cowboy for life."
But there is also no question that the Cowboys are going to use Bryant's past as a negotiating point. They want him to sign a team-friendly deal. And certainly they have concerns about how Bryant would handle things if was given a check for millions as an up-front signing bonus.
Bryant, 26, has learned a lot from several missteps—both on and off the field—that plagued his college his early years in the NFL.
The known issues included poor decisions with money, causing him to be sued for unpaid loans and jewelry expenses, being banned from a Dallas mall because of sagging pants and misdemeanor charge for family violence. (There have been other issues that resulted in the police to be called his house but no arrests were made.)
What's also true is that Bryant has grown and matured a lot in the past two years.
Bryant recognized his problems were going to affect his long-term future in the NFL, and he allowed his then-agent Eugene Parker, lawyer Royce West and advisor David Wells to impose some restraints on his life away from the field.
Wells heads a security team that travels with Bryant to road games and keeps tabs on him on outings in Dallas.
But this is not as much about Bryant having a leash as it that Bryant wants better for his life and was open to guidance and improvement.
He has switched agents from Parker to Roc Nation, founded by the rapper Jay Z. But his desire to be a better man has not changed, according to Bryant:
Everybody is entitled to their own opinion...I can't control what they think; I can only control what I think. I know what I’ve been doing, I know what I'm going to keep doing, and that's keep being a great person. Be great to my babies. They watch me every day, set an example, man. 10 years from now, I want my kids to say good stuff about their daddy. I don't talk about opinions that don't matter anymore. That used to kill me. Because I got my babies watching. That's nothing.
The Cowboys know what Bryant has been doing as well.
They know first hand.
They know better than anyone.
They were the team that took a chance on Bryant in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft when teams passed on him because of concerns about his character coming out of college at Oklahoma State.
The Cowboys have also stood by Bryant during all of his issues since coming into the league.
"Everybody that has really followed Dez’s career, followed his life, they’re proud of him right now, and I’m proud of him right now," Jones said. "If anybody would be, I would be. It’s like a daddy feeling to me really. So I’m proud of all of that."
But just because Jones is proud doesn't mean that the Cowboys are going to turn a blind eye to history and give Bryant a contract that doesn't reflect things they know firsthand.
Bryant's likely wants a deal in line with the best players at his position, roughly $13 million annually with $30 million in guaranteed money. The Cowboys have not come close to that number.
That's why it's called a negotiation.
Bryant doesn't have to take any deal he is not comfortable with. And the Cowboys have the use of the franchise tag in their back pocket, though Bryant has said he would be highly disappointed if the Cowboys used the franchise tag on him.
Of course, the current wide receiver guarantee for the franchise tag is $12.3 million. It will go up for next season and is hardly a sign of disrespect. Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones chimed in:
Very few of them want that, but that’s business...Just as we understand, he doesn’t want to sign deals that we think are fair. Everything is business. He’ll understand business. And worse things have happened than to get guaranteed a whole lot of money. Our intentions are to sign Dez to a long term contract. I have a lot of confidence we will. I think Dez wants to be here and I know we want him here.
If the Cowboys want him here, he will stay in Dallas, questionable past or not.
It's just matter of "when" not "if."
Clarence Hill covers the Cowboys for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Read more Dallas Cowboys news on BleacherReport.com
Continue reading...
Why wouldn't they?
Who buys a used car without looking at the car fax report? I don't care if it is a Ferrari. You are going to do your homework. You are going to test drive it.
And by NFL wide receiver standards, Bryant is an expensive sports car.
The Cowboys are going to understandably look at the entire package before making the purchase of a lifetime.
But make no mistake about it, this a deal the Cowboys want and plan to make. Says owner Jerry Jones.
What we want to do is have an agreement for the rest of Dez’s career...So that’s what we want. To me that says a lot about the concern about off-the-field concern if we want him on the Dallas Cowboys for the rest of his career. There is more to consider than just how good a player (he is). There’s more to consider than performance. He represents the star. We want him to be proud of that. He can be. I’m real impressed with how he’s evolved over the last several years, or we wouldn’t be in serious contract negotiations with him. So I think all of that is where it really is, and I do look for us to get something done with Dez.
Jones said there is no hesitation on his part about making Bryant a “Cowboy for life."
But there is also no question that the Cowboys are going to use Bryant's past as a negotiating point. They want him to sign a team-friendly deal. And certainly they have concerns about how Bryant would handle things if was given a check for millions as an up-front signing bonus.
Bryant, 26, has learned a lot from several missteps—both on and off the field—that plagued his college his early years in the NFL.
The known issues included poor decisions with money, causing him to be sued for unpaid loans and jewelry expenses, being banned from a Dallas mall because of sagging pants and misdemeanor charge for family violence. (There have been other issues that resulted in the police to be called his house but no arrests were made.)
What's also true is that Bryant has grown and matured a lot in the past two years.
Bryant recognized his problems were going to affect his long-term future in the NFL, and he allowed his then-agent Eugene Parker, lawyer Royce West and advisor David Wells to impose some restraints on his life away from the field.
Wells heads a security team that travels with Bryant to road games and keeps tabs on him on outings in Dallas.
But this is not as much about Bryant having a leash as it that Bryant wants better for his life and was open to guidance and improvement.
He has switched agents from Parker to Roc Nation, founded by the rapper Jay Z. But his desire to be a better man has not changed, according to Bryant:
Everybody is entitled to their own opinion...I can't control what they think; I can only control what I think. I know what I’ve been doing, I know what I'm going to keep doing, and that's keep being a great person. Be great to my babies. They watch me every day, set an example, man. 10 years from now, I want my kids to say good stuff about their daddy. I don't talk about opinions that don't matter anymore. That used to kill me. Because I got my babies watching. That's nothing.
The Cowboys know what Bryant has been doing as well.
They know first hand.
They know better than anyone.
They were the team that took a chance on Bryant in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft when teams passed on him because of concerns about his character coming out of college at Oklahoma State.
The Cowboys have also stood by Bryant during all of his issues since coming into the league.
"Everybody that has really followed Dez’s career, followed his life, they’re proud of him right now, and I’m proud of him right now," Jones said. "If anybody would be, I would be. It’s like a daddy feeling to me really. So I’m proud of all of that."
But just because Jones is proud doesn't mean that the Cowboys are going to turn a blind eye to history and give Bryant a contract that doesn't reflect things they know firsthand.
Bryant's likely wants a deal in line with the best players at his position, roughly $13 million annually with $30 million in guaranteed money. The Cowboys have not come close to that number.
That's why it's called a negotiation.
Bryant doesn't have to take any deal he is not comfortable with. And the Cowboys have the use of the franchise tag in their back pocket, though Bryant has said he would be highly disappointed if the Cowboys used the franchise tag on him.
Of course, the current wide receiver guarantee for the franchise tag is $12.3 million. It will go up for next season and is hardly a sign of disrespect. Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones chimed in:
Very few of them want that, but that’s business...Just as we understand, he doesn’t want to sign deals that we think are fair. Everything is business. He’ll understand business. And worse things have happened than to get guaranteed a whole lot of money. Our intentions are to sign Dez to a long term contract. I have a lot of confidence we will. I think Dez wants to be here and I know we want him here.
If the Cowboys want him here, he will stay in Dallas, questionable past or not.
It's just matter of "when" not "if."
Clarence Hill covers the Cowboys for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Read more Dallas Cowboys news on BleacherReport.com
Continue reading...