The Cowboys aren't taking the noise from the Dez Bryant camp seriously.
Bryant wants a contract that pays him among the best wide receivers in the game, which is what he is, and is frustrated that those negotiations are at a stalemate. The Cowboys protected themselves in the talks by slapping a franchise tag on Bryant, which guarantees him $12.8 million for the 2015 season.
Dez says he wants to be a Cowboy for life. He must have skipped his history classes at Oklahoma State because if anyone deserved to be a Cowboy for life it was Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher. But Smith played his final two seasons in obscurity at Arizona pushing that rushing record out of reach.
Jerry Rice is all that Bryant aspires to be as the NFL's all-time leading receiver. He didn't make 49er for life, either. The nature of today's game in the salary-cap era no longer allows those one-team careers for the great ones that the Walter Paytons, Roger Staubachs and Joe Greenes enjoyed. The Brett Favres, DeMarcus Wares and Ed Reeds are forced to move on.
Nonetheless, Bryant has been prattling on about the lack of security that $12.8 million would afford him. He skipped the team's mandatory minicamp this week and has threatened to sit out the season opener. And maybe more.
If the Cowboys aren't going to take Dez seriously, I will. What if he's not there?
What if he's not in training camp? What if he's not there setting an example with his work ethic for all the young receivers on the roster? What if he's not there giving young cornerbacks Byron Jones and Tyler Patmon daily competition, accelerating their developments as NFL coverage players?
What if he's not there in the season opener to match routes and receptions with New York's spectacular Odell Beckham? What if he's not there in Week 2 for the early NFC East showdown in Philadelphia against DeMarco Murray and his Eagles?
Well, life would go on. And so would the Cowboys.
Dez might not be there, but Tony Romo would be.
This doomsday scenario involving Dez is exactly why teams give their franchise quarterbacks $100 million contracts. NFL quarterbacks carry teams, not receivers. They are paid those handsome sums to make the players around them better, and that includes the receivers.
Jerry Jones gave Romo a $108 million contract with the expectation that he would win Super Bowls, with or without Dez Bryant. That's what franchise quarterbacks do.
Tom Brady and Russell Wilson took their teams to the Super Bowl last February. Five receivers started in that game, two for New England and three for Seattle. Included in the five were a third-round pick, a seventh-rounder and three undrafted college free agents. There wasn't a Dez Bryant, Calvin Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald on the field.
Brady has played with some great receivers in New England. Randy Moss and Wes Welker both earned Pro Bowl honors catching passes from him. But Brady never won a Super Bowl with either of them.
The Patriots won their 2014 championship without a 1,000-yard wide receiver on the roster. New England also won Lombardi trophies in 2004 and 2003 without benefit of a 1,000-yard receiver. You have to go all the way back to 2001 to find a 1,000-yard wideout on a Brady team that won a Super Bowl -- Troy Brown. And Brown was an eighth-round pick.
Since then, Brady has been throwing passes to players who arrived in the NFL as second- (Deion Branch), third- (Brandon LaFell) and seventh-round picks (David Givens, Julian Edelman) as well as undrafted college free agents (David Patten, Danny Amendola). And Brady has been succeeding. He has three Super Bowl rings to show for that collection of wideouts. Brady makes his receivers better.
Sure, Brady had the Gronk last season. But Romo has a Pro Bowl tight end of his own in Jason Witten.
Wideouts Terrance Williams and Devin Street were both draft picks by the Cowboys and slot receiver Cole Beasley the recent beneficiary of a four-year, $13.6 million contract. The Cowboys also used a second-round pick on tight end Gavin Escobar. Any absence by Bryant, in camps or games, would mean increased opportunities for the supporting cast.
"Whenever someone is out for whatever reason, whether it's an injury or some unique situation, you've got to work on the depth of your football team," said Cowboys offensive coordinator Scott Linehan the other day at minicamp. "The contingency planning gets worked in someone's absence, for whatever the reason.
"You're going to get production out of your group. You might get big production out of a star player, but what you're looking for is production you can get from your core, a group of players. That can happen."
Brady makes it happen in New England. It could be on Romo's shoulders to make it happen this season in Dallas.
If, in fact, we are to take Dez's threats seriously.
Sports on 06/21/2015