With contract negotiations between Dez Bryant and the Cowboys producing plenty of rumors and speculation but little progress, the star receiver took to Twitter today to weigh in on the situation. “$13MM is cool, but where is my security?” Bryant tweeted, pointing out that he had been waiting five years for the opportunity to negotiate a long-term deal.
Not long after Bryant published his tweet, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones spoke to reporters about the issue himself, as Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News details. According to Jones, he has spoken to Bryant within the last two weeks, and while he’s not sure if the wideout will be at the team’s training camp, the Cowboys “would like nothing more than to have long-term security with Dez.” Jones wants Bryant to be a Cowboy “for life,” tweets Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com.
While Jones may have said all the right things, the apparent impasse between the two sides has arrived as a result of the team not meeting Bryant’s asking price, and the Pro Bowler attempted to regain some leverage recently by suggesting he was prepared to sit out regular season games if an extension isn’t in place. Jones didn’t seem to put much stock in that though, saying today that he has “no doubt” Bryant will be on the field for Dallas’ Week 1 game against the Giants.
As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes, Jones’ response is a polite way of saying that he and the Cowboys believe Bryant is bluffing, and it doesn’t appear it has changed the team’s stance at all. Because he has yet to sign his one-year franchise tender, Bryant can’t be fined for missing this week’s minicamp, or August’s training camp. However, once he starts missing regular season contests, he’ll lose nearly $753K per week. It appears the Cowboys aren’t buying that their No. 1 receiver would be willing to simply forfeit those pay checks.
The Cowboys and Bryant have until July 15 to reach a multiyear contract agreement.