Dez Bryant reiterates threat: Long-term deal or I’ll sit out games
It’s hard to believe Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant would turn down more than $12.8 million in salary this year as a protest aganst the franchise tag, but he continues to dig in.
ESPN’s Ed Werder reported that Bryant “personally informed” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones that if a long-term deal isn’t reached by Wednesday he’ll sit out training camp and regular-season games. Wednesday is the deadline for any franchise-tagged player to sign a long-term deal, or those players have to play for the franchise tender in 2015. Bryant, Denver Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas, New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and Kansas City Chiefs outside linebacker Justin Houston are the four franchise-tagged players who haven’t signed their tender offers.
A couple hours after the original report, Werder tweeted that Jones denied Bryant ever made any threats about missing games to him. But Bryant himself confirmed the basics, that he won’t show up without a long-term deal:
Werder reports that Bryant’s camp and the Cowboys exchanged proposals just once, before the July 4 holiday weekend. That doesn’t indicate a long-term deal is close. Bryant’s threat seems empty, considering that after Wednesday nothing could be done anyway. All Bryant would do by sitting out regular-season games would be to give up $752,000 each game, according to Werder’s report. And Werder’s report said Bryant threatened to sit out not just one game but “games.” But Bryant’s options dry up after Wednesday; it’s either play or not get paid. That’s the reason to remind the Cowboys of his threat to sit out.
Bryant wants to be paid in line with the top receivers in the game, and that’s fair. He has double-digit touchdowns each of the last three seasons, topping out with 16 last season as the Cowboys won the NFC East. Once the Cowboys didn’t sign free agent running back DeMarco Murray it seemed that Bryant would be the one to get the mega-deal, but that hasn’t happened.
It should be an interesting couple days around the Cowboys — and with the other three franchised players looking for long-term deals and their teams — to see if a long-term deal can be worked out with Bryant. It might get much more interesting around Valley Ranch if it doesn’t get done and if Bryant follows through on his threat.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
