Dez Bryant Release Today By the Cowboys

If you think about it the Dez Bryant era ended 2 years ago when Michael Bennett of the Seattle Seahawks did a pile driver move on Tony Romo in the 3rd preseason game of 2015 effectively ending the Tony Romo era in Dallas. Bennett's tackle of Romo broke a bone in Romo's back that caused him to miss the last preseason game and the first 9 weeks of the regular season. When Romo was cleared to play again the Cowboys were 9-0 with Dak Prescott leading the team and Jason Garrett opted to stick with Prescott. I did not then, nor do I still, agree with Garrett's decision. Despite his success Prescott was still the 2nd best QB on the Cowboys roster and traditionally veteran players don't lose their job to rookies because of injury. For whatever reason Garrett turned his back on his friend Tony and stuck with the rookie. I will never, ever forgive Jason Garrett for that lack of faith and loyalty. It's not just the move snubbing Romo it was the ramifications to the Cowboys salary cap that was lacking forethought. Dallas has lost roughly $26 MM in cap space last year and this year with absolutely nothing to show for it. Dak's play in 2017 was certainly cause for concern as his sophomore year was not nearly as good as his rookie season. In my opinion Garrett's move to stick with Prescott was premature and has proven to be a really bad decision. Dak's inexperience in handling blitzes and reading coverages hurt him as the O-line struggled when Tyron Smith's back began to cause him to lose playing time. Romo would have made defenses pay for team's strategy to sell out on the pass to stop the run. Dak never did make defenses pay the price and Dez Bryant's struggles are tied directly to Prescott's struggles. Dez was Romo's boy (no offense meant to Dez). Dez was a breath of fresh air after Romo had to deal with the ultimate WR diva in Terrell Owens and they grew together and it was Tony and Dez just like it has been Troy and Michael in the 90's and Roger and Drew in the 70's but despite a decent year in 2016 it was clear that Dez and Dak did not click. Last season Dez admitted he let outside talk (i.e. media and social media) get to him. Besides being distracted he also dealt with issues with his knee that made playing painful. Dez dropped too many passes, ran the wrong routes and didn't come down with the 50-50 balls he used to for Tony.
This offseason the media was speculating that Dez would be asked to take a pay cut because he was not living up to the 5-year $70MM contract he signed in 2015 while others speculated the Dez would be cut. It didn't help that the Cowboys have been so coy about the issue since the end of the regular season. There was talk earlier this week about a sit-down with Jerry Jones and Dez about his situation and that meeting apparently happened and you know the end result of that meeting. I don't believe this was a decision Jerry Jones made. I think he reluctantly agreed to it but I don't believe he liked it one bit. Dez is special to Jerry and in the past decisions concerning players was made by Jerry based mainly on his loyalty to those players. This is a new regime in Dallas. In case you hadn't noticed Jerry defers to his son Stephen and the brain trust surrounding Stephen mainly player personnel man Will McClay. They talked Jerry out of drafting Johnny Manziel in the first round of the 2014 draft and opted for All Pro guard Zack Martin. The only player I can think of that Jerry probably pulled the trigger on was free agent DE Greg Hardy in 2015. That was a truly bad signing and sort of typical of Jones who has been willing to take chances on controversial players. Still, should Dez have been released?
Again, the Cowboys will eat the $16 MM cap hit but they will get $12 MM back in savings on Dez' base salary. It does free up a lot of money if Dallas wants to sign a free agent or two but the bulk of the FA's worth signing have been signed. Dallas has been heavily criticized for it's lack of participation in free agency but it you look at it their moves have all addressed team needs and they are better for it for the most part. I'll talk about those signings in another post but today is all about Dez.
Dez came in as a very immature person with a killer set of WR skills. He was Michael Irvin made over in terms of his passion for the sport, winning football games and the Dallas Cowboys. A lot of people didn't get Dez at first. People were put off by his sideline rants and tantrums but Michael Irvin had to look at Dez and say, "Oh my God, that's me 25 years ago." Talented, passionate and a guy who just made plays. Michael saw it, and so did a lot of other people. The Dez Bryant era is over after 8 seasons, 3 Pro Bowls, 1 All Pro season and he leave holding the Cowboys record for most receiving TD's (73). I can't help feeling that Dez feels pretty disrespected right now given the fact that one free agent Dallas signed was oft injured former Jacksonville WR Allen Hurns to a 2-year $12 MM deal. Hurns is Dez Bryant lite. One Pro Bowl season in Jacksonville and he is a physical clone of Dez but he's spent more time in the training room with injuries than he has on the field. I didn't get excited about Hurns' signing because the chatter was his signing cleared the way for Dez' release. Turns out 'they' were right. I can see a new focus on this year's draft and that being the need to draft a top WR because the Cowboys would be crazy to depend on Hurns to stay healthy or even come close to matching Dez' production. Get younger, get better seems to be the Cowboys mantra over the last few seasons and a lack of sentimentality over veteran players also looks like a thing of the past. Too bad because that's one thing about Jerry I appreciated. If he said players were family he really meant it and his actions backed that up. I always liked Jerry Jones the owner it was just the fact the Jerry Jones as GM was not very good at his job. This new age Cowboys front office dominated by his son Stephen has a lot less heart these days but it remains to be seen if it turns into a championship winning regime. I hope so but I still feel sad for Dez and Tony who never got that last opportunity to chase the dream together.