Dez Bryant Won’t Sign Before Draft

Dez Bryant will land somewhere, but it won’t happen today or tomorrow. The former Cowboys wide receiver is not expected to sign before the draft and his free agency stint could last into May, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears.

At this point, it only makes sense for teams to wait until after the draft to assess their level of need for Bryant. Bryant won’t match the $12.5MM he was set to earn with Dallas in 2018, but it’s safe to say that he’ll command at least a few million on a one-year contract and that’s not exactly chump change for teams. If a club that is interested in Bryant drafts someone like Calvin Ridley, D.J. Moore, or Christian Kirk, they’ll be less apt to spend on the 29-year-old.

It’s not clear which teams are after Bryant at this stage. The Ravens were said to have interest, but the addition of Willie Snead likely takes them out of the running. For his part, Bryant is reportedly looking to sign with an NFC East team in order to exact revenge on Dallas, but there’s no obvious fit within the division. The Redskins are not interested, it’s not clear whether the Eagles have him on the radar, and the Giants are not pursuing him at this time. A return to Dallas is not in the cards either.

Bryant averaged 91 catches for 1,312 yards and 14 touchdowns for the Cowboys between 2012 and 2014. Over the last three years, however, those averages have plummeted to 50 catches for 678 yards and 6 TDs. He also missed ten games due to injury between 2015 and 2016.

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