Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant and Cowboys COO Stephen Jones already disagree on one topic from one of their recent conversations: Whether Bryant threatened not to show up absent a long-term contract.
They’re likely to disagree on another topic that allegedly was discussed.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Jones explained to Bryant that the Calvin Johnson contract, which represents the current peak of the receiver market, has no relevance to other receivers because it was driven by the pre-rookie wage scale deal that Johnson signed when he was drafted by the Lions in 2007. And then Jones told Dez, per the source, that Jones talked to Broncos G.M. John Elway about the situation.
Because the Broncos also have a franchise-tagged receiver in Demaryius Thomas, the admission that Jones and Elway communicated about the situation constitutes evidence of collusion.
The Cowboys could not immediately be reached for comment. Given that Jones denied the report that Dez provided an ultimatum during the conversation, it’s safe to assume Jones will strongly deny that he admitted talking to Elway about the receiver market.
Collusion surely happens on a regular basis in the NFL, and it’s easy for teams to justify it. Agents and players can compare notes and coordinate strategies freely. If two or more teams do it, that’s collusion.
It’s also easy to get away with collusion, because most of it happens through verbal communications that can be denied later, if need be. Which is all the more reason for Jones to strongly deny that he accidentally said something to Dez about collusion with the Broncos.
