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Dallas Cowboys, Dez Bryant need to make a deal

By Stephen Forsha

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Aug 4, 2013; Canton, OH, USA; Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (left) shakes hands with receiver Dez Bryant (88) after the 2013 Hall of Fame Game against the Miami Dolphins at Fawcett Stadium. The Cowboys defeated the Dolphins 24-20. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

There is no other wide receiver the Dallas Cowboys can have on their roster who will impact their roster like Dez Bryant.

Not a single one.

Bryant is perfect for the Cowboys … if not, then they would not have given him Michael Irvin‘s No. 88 to bring back to life, since as a few others have not done that since Irvin’s retirement in 1999.

The 6-2, 220-pound five-year wide out caught 88 passes for 1,320 yards, averaging 82.5 yards per game receiving this past season, a season where the Cowboys reached the divisional round of the NFC Playoffs.

The Cowboys are leaning towards putting the franchise tag on Bryant, and that is the wrong move to make for this franchise.

Why anger the best player on the roster? If the Cowboys franchise Bryant, and if he sees that as such a sign of disrespect, maybe they won’t be able to re-sign him to a long-term deal following the conclusion of the ’15 season.

Here is what Bryant tweeted earlier this week:

Don’t laugh – it could happen, and if it were to happen, it could be one of the biggest blunders in recent memory for a Cowboys front office who have started to see their vision build and build in the past few seasons.

In his five seasons on the Cowboys roster, Bryant, in 75 games, has 381 receptions (608 targets) for 5,424 yards. He averages 72.3 yards per game and 14.2 yards per reception for his career.

Bryant was eighth in the NFL in receiving yards, 12th in receptions, 10th in yards per game and first in touchdowns.

On Bryant’s Twitter account, he also retweeted this:

Back to that silly franchise tag … if the Cowboys do franchise Bryant, ESPN’s Ed Werner reported Bryant would skip the offseason workouts of the Cowboys.

I can’t really blame him … he’s more than earned a contract extension that secures his spot with the organization for years to come.

My question for Jerry and Stephen Jones is this: Why even risk this?

They have one of the best wide receivers in not only the NFC, but in the entire NFL, and they won’t give him a long-term deal?

Smart money says don’t even give another team the opportunity to pay Bryant for his services as a top wide receiver in the NFL.

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Sure, there are plenty of wide receivers on the free agent market or available to draft, but the Cowboys have in their arsenal a rare combination of talent and physicality wrapped up into a player who they moved up in the draft to take in the first place.

Why risk breaking what isn’t broken? Work on a deal with Bryant that keeps him in the franchise for a very long time but is friendly to the cap as well.

There is a way … they are America’s Team for a reason, and that reason is they have superstars on their roster. After this past season, it is very easy to say Bryant is just that … an NFL superstar the Cowboys need to keep happy. The happier he is, the better Tony Romo will be. And the better Romo is, the more games the Cowboys win.

Call it a domino effect.

Yes, Bryant has had some off-the-field troubles in the past. He’s a very emotional player, and that can hurt him, but do the Cowboys really want to throw gasoline in the fire and see what happens?

Do they really want to risk losing a potential Hall of Famer, or at worst, a player who has Hall of Fame ability?

I would like to think the Cowboys wouldn’t, but for the sake of the Cowboys’ franchise and the sanity of their fans, a deal needs finalized this offseason. If it doesn’t, all we’ll hear next season are reports on Bryant’s contract status, and even worse, the Cowboys might have one upset wide receiver in the process.

It will be just one big distraction, and with the Cowboys being ever so close to the NFC Championship, why even let that distraction happen?

This is a firestorm the Cowboys can avoid, but it will all come down to if they have the common sense to work out a deal, rather than use the franchise tag.

Next: Where do the Cowboys rank among the best franchises in history?

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