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Dez Bryant potentially missing any regular or postseason games is the absolute last thing Jerry Jones and Dallas Cowboys fans want to hear. For Bryant and his camp, threatening to do so is the smartest thing they can do at this time. With the way the league is structured with its inclusion of the franchise tag, the only leverage players have in these negotiations is their presence, or lack thereof, on the field.
Jones saw just how effective this method can be when his star running back Emmitt Smith held out the first two games of the regular season back in 1993. The Cowboys, fresh off of their first Super Bowl win since the 1970s, lost the first two games of that season and that prompted Jones to put an end to all the petty negotiations and he immediately got a deal done with Smith.
Well the last thing Jones wants to do is to go into a season where his team has a legitimate opportunity to get back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1996 without his team’s best receiver and most dangerous weapon in Bryant. If Bryant doesn’t fully participate in all of the offseason workouts and misses the first game of the season, he as well as the team, could get off to a slow start even if a deal is worked out late. And anyone who knows Bryant, knows that he likes to go full speed all of the time, so trying to rush himself back into shape could cause hamstring issues and could keep him away from the game for longer than either side hoped for.
Ever since Jerry allowed his son Stephen Jones to take control of the team’s day-to-day operations, he has been very business savvy in only working out deals that are ultimately team-friendly, and for the most part it has helped turn this organization around. But at some point numbers have to be put aside and replaced with common sense.
In most cases ownership holds all of the cards in contract negotiations but eventually ego must be put aside to look at the bigger picture; Tony Romo is not nearly as good of a quarterback if he doesn’t have Bryant on the field and teams will begin to load up and stop the run if they don’t respect the Cowboys’ passing game. That alone will disrupt everything the Cowboys want to do both offensively and defensively, so the importance of getting this deal done is paramount.
The good news for Cowboys fans is that Tom Condon, Bryant’s agent, is a master at these negotiations and he will do everything he can in his power to get this deal done before the season starts, even if that includes threatening to sit his client out for the first game of the season.
Kelly Anderson is a blogger for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bgipp01 or add him to your network on Google.
