Now that Dez Bryant is on the market, it is still a mystery as to which team he is going to sign with. @SNFonNBC
The saying everything is bigger in Texas goes for all things, even personalities. Former Dallas Cowboys’ wide receiver Dez Bryant was released from the team Friday April 13; this is a huge shock not only to Cowboys Nation, but the NFL as a whole.
Bryant has been a Cowboy for the past eight seasons and was arguably the face of the franchise. His incredible, acrobatic catches followed by his patented X celebration made him an instant superstar in the league. He was so popular with the team he even wears the number 88, a number that could easily be retired because it was formally worn by the great Michael Irvin.
Bryant was viewed by many as being a Cowboy for life. His stardom, along with the love from the owner Jerry Jones and being the franchise leader in touchdown catches made it seem impossible he would leave the team, right? Unfortunately for the veteran receiver, the league continues to show that at the end of the day it’s all business.
After his incredible 88th catch, 1,320 yards and 16 touchdown year in 2014, Bryant cashed in huge with a five year, $70 million contract that payed him roughly $12.5 million per season. This contract seemed fair for one of the best receivers in the league at the time; however, life just didn’t seem to be on his side after that. The 2015 season was plagued with injuries where Bryant played in only nine games. Also, the games he was in, he clearly wasn’t himself as he was running routes with a limp. This injury-affected season left the star with only 31 catches for 401 yards and three touchdowns.
The next season in 2016 was thought to be exciting as Dez Bryant was back. However, that simply wasn’t the case because in week three against the Bears, he sprained his knee causing him to miss three games. This season was a little better statistically as he recorded 50 catches for 796 yards and eight touchdowns. Despite Bryant’s struggles, the Cowboys came off one of their best seasons in history recording an 11-3 record. After a disappointing loss to the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs, Cowboys’ fans set their eyes on next season for the true return of their star wide receiver. During the 2017 season Bryant played in all 16 games, however, was the true “Dez” really there? He ended the year with 69 catches, 838 yards and six touchdowns. The stats aren’t too bad; however, they are not anywhere close to what the expectations were.
Following these three bad seasons, the Dallas Cowboys decided to cut ties with the former all-world receiver and give him the X. Let the record show that Bryant was not cut because of loss of skills, but instead for other reasons. The first and foremost reason is that he was not living up to his contract. As of late, Bryant has been putting up stats that would bring him in the $5 to $7 million range, certainly not 12.
This raises the question though, why the drop in his stats? It is now understood that Bryant no longer fits the system of the Cowboys’ offense. Dallas is a run first team with short conversions on third down. Bryant runs three routes, the slant, the go route and the fade route. Only knowing these routes makes the former all-pro a jump-ball receiver. Although he isn’t old, it needs to be noted he is not as young as he used to be. Bryant is going to be 30 years old next season and has had lower body injuries. All of these factors take away from his jumping and running. When these things are what a receiver does for a living, once they get older of course, the numbers will drop. Larry Fitzgerald had to completely change his game to a slot receiver to continue to play football. “Fitz” is not the receiver he once was, not just by age, but also the type of receiver as well.
Bryant’s lack of knowledge on the route tree truly affects his impact on the offense. When he played with Tony Romo the team ran the ball, however, Romo was a gun slinger and was a high risk, high reward type of quarterback. Whereas the new starting quarterback, Dak Prescott, is more conservative and reads through the progressions—he will only throw the ball when a receiver is open. An example can be seen with the target stats; when Dez played all 16 games with Tony Romo, he was target, on average, 145 times a season. However, with Dak Prescott it can be seen to drop to an average of 115 times a season. This stat is even inflated a little because it was clear to everyone that Prescott was forcing the ball to Bryant because the number went from 97 in 2016 to 133 in 2017. With that being said it is clear that Prescott would throw Bryant the ball a little over 100 times a season. This is a huge drop which could lead to the decline in the veteran’s stats.
The second reason for the decline in his stats is that Bryant led the NFL and set a personal record with dropped passes this past season. Nobody but him knows why he is dropping passes, but my guess is that he’s rattled mentally.
Another reason as to why he was cut was because of the cap-hit. This season Bryant was second in cap-hit amongst receivers. This is something the Cowboys simply cannot afford because of three names, DeMarcus Lawrence, Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliot. The Cowboys’ defense has been hurting for years, and finally they can say that they have a star pass-rusher in Lawrence. It goes without mention that in the upcoming seasons they are going to have to pay Prescott and Elliot. Bryant’s cap-hit was simply too much for the Cowboys to handle and with that, they needed to let him go.
In addition, Bryant had zero 100-yard receiving games this past season; that is simply unacceptable for someone getting paid the amount that he was.
The final reason why the Oklahoma State product had to be released is because he is hurting the growth of Prescott. Again, Bryant is a big personality on the field and demands the ball. This forces his quarterback to get out of rhythm and screws with his head, which leads Prescott down the wrong path. When it comes down to your future franchise quarterback, or an aging star, the passer will win every time.
To sum it up, Bryant isn’t completely done and now there is a very talented receiver on the market. The Cowboys couldn’t keep him because of money, his psychical decline, the fact he doesn’t fit the system and the affect it has on their young team. The star claims he wants to stay in the NFC East to face the Cowboys, however that isn’t the smartest move for his career. Bryant may want to get revenge, but for his career he would benefit to go to an older and more experienced quarterback. Some of the potential landing spots include the Packers, Ravens, Chargers, Patriots or Saints. As of now it is a mystery where he ends up, but what’s not a mystery is the place he holds in every Cowboys’ fan’s heart.
