Over the weekend, the Dallas Morning News had the latest in a periodic set of reports about concerns that the Cowboys have about wide receiver Dez Bryant’s life away from the football field.
All of those concerns are aired against the backdrop of Bryant’s impending free agency and what it might mean for the deal that he ultimately winds up with in Dallas. Bryant set the team’s record for receiving touchdowns in a season during Sunday’s victory and provided another entry for his highlight reel with a toe-dragging touchdown.
After the game, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that any worries he might have about signing Bryant to a long-term deal were worries that he hasn’t shared with anyone in the media and suggested that those worries were similar to ones he has any time he’s negotiating multimillion dollar commitments.
“I told you I’m not going to get into issues regarding any contract, but nobody knows what I’m worried about,” Jones said, via ESPNDallas.com. “And I don’t know that I’ve ever signed a contract that I didn’t have things to worry about, but nobody talked about them. You can’t make business decisions, especially multimillion dollar business decisions without having a nice little worry list over on the right. Everybody does. So it’s wrong to say that that is an issue. That’s not an issue relative to overall getting it done. We just want to get it done.”
Jones has already said that the team is prepared to use the franchise tag on Bryant in the event they can’t get a long-term deal done by the deadline to use the tag this offseason, so there’s no fear that Bryant will be leaving the team this offseason. Given the issues involved with reach an agreement, it wouldn’t come as a great shock to see the tag used to buy more time for contract talks designed to make sure Bryant’s highlights continue to benefit the Cowboys.
