Dez himself says he'll miss time if no deal

[ElGatoGrande]

I'm fine with Dez getting top tier money but I'm not fine with him and his agent trying to hold up this team using Megatron's ridiculous outlier contract that was made on the tail end of the prevoius CBA. The financial landscape is different now, first round QBs dont get Sam Bradford contracts anymore and teams trying to intelligently manage their cap don't try to match Megatron's contract to wide receivers. Business negotiations are often tough, but if Dez holds out and misses games then I will lose all respect for him.

 

[DeaconMoss]

The bottom line is Dez knows this is his one time to cash in for what he has worked his whole life for. He will get it via the TAG or via contract. Don't see what the big deal is. Dez should just sign the TAG and come to practice and quit being a little b. Its obvious Dallas is not going to offer him a CJ deal b/c it doesn't make good team sense. If Dez is such a team guy, sign a team friendly deal or sign the TAG and be done. If he don't like it get ready to go play for the Browns or Raiders.

 

[Doomsday101]

How many games are we winning without Dez and Murray both?

I got us at 6 max

Romo has maybe 2 good seasons left and you are willing to piss away one of them?

1st off you don't know what Romo has left to act as if you know is a joke. 2nd Dez should be paid well within the top 5 but it is stupid to over pay a player at the cost of the team. Bad teams over pay and it cost them after all the game is played with 53 not 1. As great as CJ is how many SB have Det made? NONE this is not some one man game. It is one thing paying out a big contract and other putting a team in a bad situation because you cave into some poor deal. Det made a bad deal and there is no reason others should be forced to make a bad deal because of them.

 

[Doomsday101]

LOL thats how dez sees it !

If dez doesnt play the cowboys can still win , and even if he does play they can still lose.
If it turns out they can run the ball good they can get by without dez.
they should tell him if he sits 1 game he will be benched for whole season, including the playoffs .

I agree. I like Dez and he makes the Cowboys a better team no doubt. I don't think Dallas fate rest in the hands of Dez he avgs 5 catches a game where on avg there are 60 offensive snaps. Clearly not having him would put more pressure on Romo to get all other WR involved in the game along with the running game.

Again I want to see him signed and I fully expect him to be in camp and play. Many things get said in contract negotiations and much of it is a player letting off steam, once everything is settled I'm certain that he and the team will act as if this was never a big deal. We all saw other players hold out in the past like Emmitt and things were said by him but when the deal got done Emmitt attitude towards the team and the organization attitude towards Emmitt was great.

 

[Galian Beast]

If Dez decides to miss games it will really hurt him. He won't make that money for the year, he'll hurt the team, and his image over what the 2 to 3 million more a year over the course of his career, unless they are a lot further apart than we know.

Let's say it is a 7 year contract, that is 14-21 million. Is he prepared to sit the year out at 12 million? Does he think he will get the money back somehow, that his market value will increase next year? It wouldn't.

The Cowboys need Bryant, but they can also perform without him. We have a slew of receivers out there that are underutilized.

 

[erod]

The Greg Hardy contract could bite Dallas when it comes to Dez. It has given him leverage he didn't previously have.

Hardy's contract doesn't allow Dallas to apply the franchise tag to him after the season. Dez could sit out until Dallas agrees to insert that same clause in his franchise tender agreement.

That would make Dez an unrestricted free agent in six months.

The Cowboys could refuse. But Dez could sit out the first 10 games before he reports. The distraction of that, plus missing him on the field, could make this season a disaster.

I don't think Dez has the will power to stay away that long, but he just might.

There's the leverage we didn't think he had.

 

[DallasEast]

A good QB is a higher commodity than a good WR. Hence why Romo should and is paid more than Dez will be. It's that way across the league.

It's really that simple. Franchise quarterbacks are the rarest commodity in professional football. Teams will continue paying excessively to retain them. It's a basic supply and demand principle. The concept should not be difficult for anyone to comprehend at all.

 

[Doomsday101]

The Greg Hardy contract could bite Dallas when it comes to Dez. It has given him leverage he didn't previously have.

Hardy's contract doesn't allow Dallas to apply the franchise tag to him after the season. Dez could sit out until Dallas agrees to insert that same clause in his franchise tender agreement.

That would make Dez an unrestricted free agent in six months.

The Cowboys could refuse. But Dez could sit out the first 10 games before he reports. The distraction of that, plus missing him on the field, could make this season a disaster.

I don't think Dez has the will power to stay away that long, but he just might.

There's the leverage we didn't think he had.

Thing is with the big contract like Romo and Tyron and Witten those players will be asked to restructure over the course of the contract to create cap space. Of course players do not lose money in doing this. I think once Dez deal gets done it is likely his deal will be restructure down the road.

 

[Doomsday101]

It's really that simple. Franchise quarterbacks are the rarest commodity in professional football. Teams will continue paying excessively to retain them. It's a basic supply and demand principle. The concept should not be difficult for anyone to comprehend at all.

True but looking at the avg pay of all the QB you don't see the big gap between Rodgers the highest paid and Rothlisburger the 2nd highest paid QB. At WR there is a pretty good size gap between CJ and the next highest paid WR.

 

[Staubacher]

We will be worse off without Dez but I'm at the point I don't care. If he is going to tweet sorry fans I won't play then my answer is sorry Dez I won't care.

 

[Sydla]

The Greg Hardy contract could bite Dallas when it comes to Dez. It has given him leverage he didn't previously have.

Hardy's contract doesn't allow Dallas to apply the franchise tag to him after the season. Dez could sit out until Dallas agrees to insert that same clause in his franchise tender agreement.

That would make Dez an unrestricted free agent in six months.

The Cowboys could refuse. But Dez could sit out the first 10 games before he reports. The distraction of that, plus missing him on the field, could make this season a disaster.

I don't think Dez has the will power to stay away that long, but he just might.

There's the leverage we didn't think he had.

That's not leverage at least anymore than he has now. He's already threatening to sit out now and it appears the Cowboys aren't budging. So why would suddenly his demands that he wants a guarantee he won't be tagged next year suddenly going to really mess things up? It won't. Dallas will just say, "Oh you want to play that game, fine. Have fun not making any money the next two seasons".

 

[Sydla]

True but looking at the avg pay of all the QB you don't see the big gap between Rodgers the highest paid and Rothlisburger the 2nd highest paid QB. At WR there is a pretty good size gap between CJ and the next highest paid WR.

Because QBs are a higher priced commodity. The fact there are no WRs within miles of CJ's deal tells you that his salary is out of whack. The fact there are a ton of highly paid QBs, tells you that Rodgers and Big Ben and others aren't "overpaid".

 

[erod]

Dez Bryant isn't as hamstrung by the franchise tag as we thought. There are two power plays he has at his disposal.

1. Like the Greg Hardy deal, Dez can insist on a clause to his franchise tender that makes him an unrestricted free agent in six months. That would eliminate the franchise tag for next year. He could sit out as many as 10 games this year before he would have to report, which would be a massive distraction to the team, and likely turn a promising season into a disaster.

2. Also, according to PFT, there is a clause that makes signing Dez much less punitive for teams next year. But he'd have to sit out the entire season.

"There’s also a kicker under Section 15(c), about which I either didn’t know or had forgotten. If Bryant sits out the full year and if the Cowboys tag him again in 2016, the compensation another team would owe the Cowboys from signing him to an unmatched offer sheet would drop from two first-round picks to a first-round pick and a third-round pick. Which would make other teams more inclined to consider signing him to an offer sheet in 2016."

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/14/dez-bryant-may-be-prepared-to-miss-10-weeks-of-game-checks/

I wasn't aware of any of this, and yes, this could change my thoughts quite a bit. Still, is a wide receiver worth 13 percent of a team's salary cap? I have a big issue with that.

I have no doubt a team will step up with a first and third for Dez, and that is intriguing to some degree. I want Dez here, but I also want a fiscally responsible franchise, which we're finally seeing around here. That bodes well for the future. Dallas could take its own first rounder, pair it with a second, and trade up for the next great receiver (or quarterback) in the draft next year. That has merit, too.

This is a fantastically interesting scenario, but a scary one, too.

 

[Nation]

Dez Bryant isn't as hamstrung by the franchise tag as we thought. There are two power plays he has at his disposal.

1. Like the Greg Hardy deal, Dez can insist on a clause to his franchise tender that makes him an unrestricted free agent in six months. That would eliminate the franchise tag for next year. He could sit out as many as 10 games this year before he would have to report, which would be a massive distraction to the team, and likely turn a promising season into a disaster.

2. Also, according to PFT, there is a clause that makes signing Dez much less punitive for teams next year. But he'd have to sit out the entire season.

"There’s also a kicker under Section 15(c), about which I either didn’t know or had forgotten. If Bryant sits out the full year and if the Cowboys tag him again in 2016, the compensation another team would owe the Cowboys from signing him to an unmatched offer sheet would drop from two first-round picks to a first-round pick and a third-round pick. Which would make other teams more inclined to consider signing him to an offer sheet in 2016."

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/14/dez-bryant-may-be-prepared-to-miss-10-weeks-of-game-checks/

I wasn't aware of any of this, and yes, this could change my thoughts quite a bit. Still, is a wide receiver worth 13 percent of a team's salary cap? I have a big issue with that.

I have no doubt a team will step up with a first and third for Dez, and that is intriguing to some degree. I want Dez here, but I also want a fiscally responsible franchise, which we're finally seeing around here. That bodes well for the future. Dallas could take its own first rounder, pair it with a second, and trade up for the next great receiver (or quarterback) in the draft next year. That has merit, too.

This is a fantastically interesting scenario, but a scary one, too.

While both are good points, I don't think they are 100% favorable in Dez' corner.

With the Hardy franchise clause, Hardy had more options. Maybe he didn't have 32 teams wanting to take a flier on him, but if Dallas elected not to agree to the franchise waiver Hardy had the option to get up and sign somewhere else. Dez has the option of playing for Dallas, sitting out, or an unlikely scenario of signing a monster contract with a team that will give up 2 first round picks for him. He could sit out ten games, but he's leaving a massive amount of money on the table if he does. He could not play at all and get a raise on the tag in 2016, but again I don't think that's a savvy move to show a team you are worth a 50 million dollar investment and that you really love football.

Actions always speak louder than words. Dez is the first player I've ever heard of showing up to OTAs while unsigned. That doesn't make me think he's going to go to the absolute complete other end of the spectrum and be the first franchise tag player to hold out for a significant portion of a season.

 

[anava]

Dez Bryant isn't as hamstrung by the franchise tag as we thought. There are two power plays he has at his disposal.

1. Like the Greg Hardy deal, Dez can insist on a clause to his franchise tender that makes him an unrestricted free agent in six months. That would eliminate the franchise tag for next year. He could sit out as many as 10 games this year before he would have to report, which would be a massive distraction to the team, and likely turn a promising season into a disaster.

2. Also, according to PFT, there is a clause that makes signing Dez much less punitive for teams next year. But he'd have to sit out the entire season.

"There’s also a kicker under Section 15(c), about which I either didn’t know or had forgotten. If Bryant sits out the full year and if the Cowboys tag him again in 2016, the compensation another team would owe the Cowboys from signing him to an unmatched offer sheet would drop from two first-round picks to a first-round pick and a third-round pick. Which would make other teams more inclined to consider signing him to an offer sheet in 2016."

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/14/dez-bryant-may-be-prepared-to-miss-10-weeks-of-game-checks/

I wasn't aware of any of this, and yes, this could change my thoughts quite a bit. Still, is a wide receiver worth 13 percent of a team's salary cap? I have a big issue with that.

I have no doubt a team will step up with a first and third for Dez, and that is intriguing to some degree. I want Dez here, but I also want a fiscally responsible franchise, which we're finally seeing around here. That bodes well for the future. Dallas could take its own first rounder, pair it with a second, and trade up for the next great receiver (or quarterback) in the draft next year. That has merit, too.

This is a fantastically interesting scenario, but a scary one, too.

Do you honestly think Dez sits out 10 games and loses close to 8 million dollars? And what happens if the Boys start to win without him? What happens to his leverage?

 

[MichaelWinicki]

That's not leverage at least anymore than he has now. He's already threatening to sit out now and it appears the Cowboys aren't budging. So why would suddenly his demands that he wants a guarantee he won't be tagged next year suddenly going to really mess things up? It won't. Dallas will just say, "Oh you want to play that game, fine. Have fun not making any money the next two seasons".

Agreed. It's really not leverage. It's more of "I'm going to hold my breath until you give me what I want" kind of leverage.

If he holds out there's only going to be one "bad guy" and that's Dez.

 

[Sydla]

Again, I am not sure how the fact he could demand that he become a UDFA in 2016 gives him more leverage? It doesn't. The Cowboys already tagged him and already have shown they won't budge on a long term deal. Dallas seems intent on calling his bluff so I fail to see how Bryant now demanding that UDFA clause changes anything.

And while the fact the compenation for him goes down if he sits out the entire year and signs somewhere else under the tag, that's likely offset by the fact that league wide it's known that Dallas won't pony up oodles and oodles of guaranteed money because of maturity and off the field issues. You think a lot of NFL franchises will be scrambling to not only hand over $50MM+ in guaranteed money as well as a first and third round pick to a guy who basically threw a temper tantrum and sat out a full season?

If that's the road he goes down, and some team wants to give us a 1st and 3rd rounder for him, I'll gladly take it. Because him sitting out a full season tells me all I need to know about him.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

And what happens if the Boys start to win without him? What happens to his leverage?

That right there.

Make no mistake, Dez makes this a better offense. But he only touches the ball about 5 times a game. And it's not like the Cowboys' team is barren of talent. They could very well field a playoff contender without him.

 

[Sydla]

I'll say this about the on the field aspect of this. If Bryant really does sit out, I don't believe we are the favorite anymore in the East. It would probaby be Philly. You can't tell me that this team is as good without both Murray and Bryant and depending on guys like Terrance Williams Beasley, Street, Farmer, Randle, Matthews, McFadden to carry them. That's a hodge podge of mediocrity right there.

But............ if for some reason the Cowboys were able to win and win a lot early, it would certainly erode a ton of the little leverage Bryant has.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Will a fair offer get it done is my question?