Dez Bryant is getting upset.
On the same day ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported that the Cowboys receiver may skip the first game of the regular season due to unhappiness over the lack of a long-term deal, Dez told Mike Silver of NFL Media, “It’s not a rumor. It’s legit.”
Whether it’s legit or not, it’s irrelevant until Week One comes. Bryant can stay away from all offseason workouts, training camp, and the preseason without losing a penny of his $12.8 million franchise-tag salary. Come September, Bryant would lose $752,941.17 for every week he misses.
He could, in theory, show up as late as the Tuesday after Week 10, get credit for the contract year, and do it all over again in 2016, at a 20-percent raise over his $12.8 million salary.
Regardless of whether Bryant would do it, threatening to do it could push the Cowboys to make an offer that more fairly reflects not only his market value but also the fact that he’d make more than $28 million over the next two years under the franchise tag. Unless the Cowboys are willing to offer more than $28 million fully guaranteed on a long-term deal, Dez should play the franchise-tag game.
Even after July 15, when the deadline passes for doing a long-term deal, Dez could still threaten to skip regular-season games in order to secure a commitment that the Cowboys won’t use the franchise tag on him again in 2016.
The real question is whether the Cowboys buy it. By recently showing up to work out with the team, Bryant came off as a guy who ultimately can’t stay away from the game. It now could be much harder to persuade the Cowboys that he’s serious about staying away from the team and giving up more than $750,000 per week.
