Long-time Dallas Cowboys wide receiver is a free man after the team released him last week. So, while Dez waits for a team to pay handsomely for his services, he has decided to fill his time by taking shots at his only team.
The superstar wide receiver has made it clear what he thinks about Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett and the “Garrett guys” that got him fired, taking shots at anyone with a Captain’s ‘C’ patch on their Cowboys jersey. Meanwhile, the Cowboys are already beginning to miss their best receiver, especially young QB Dak Prescott.
“I’m in my second year, so, as much as you want to say, ‘I want a say and this and that,’ those guys get paid a lot more than,” said Prescott. “And that’s what those guys are there to do. That’s not my decision. Obviously, it’s sad news. That’s a brother to me. Put the football stuff behind you. What he meant to me as a person, what he meant to me as a brother, it’s tough to see him go. It shows you, I mean, it’s a business. It motivates me, honestly. It motivates me and puts all this in perspective.”
For Dez, however, there’s no love lost with many of the Cowboys team leaders in the locker room. As for the fans, on the other hand, he took to Twitter to say goodbye.
“Cowboy Nation, I need you to know this wasn’t my decision,” said Bryant in a string of tweets. “I will always love y’all…forever Dallas in my heart. If I didn’t have my edge, I got it now…It’s very personal.”
So, who are these “Garrett guys” that got Dez fired? All the information we have on them is that they have a ‘C’ on their chest. Who could they be?
“I won’t put no names out, but they know, and I want them to know I know,” said Dez. “I’ll shoot them a text message and let them know. Little do they know is, you know, they can wear that ‘C’ all they want to, but in that locker room…they know who they communicate with. Everybody knows where the real love is at. I’m not throwing anybody under the bus, but that’s the difference between me and them.”
Well, Dez isn’t much help in figuring out who they are exactly for ourselves, however, whoever they are, they aren’t overly popular amongst the rest of the Cowboys biggest names either.
“I’m sure he’s hearing stuff, and I’m sure he’s getting it from a lot of different ways,” said Prescott. “I’m not going to finger-point at anybody. I’m not going to get upset for who he’s pointing at or who he thinks did this.”
Only one person can be ruled out, and he is Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Jones and Bryant have had a great relationship over the last several seasons, and Dez knows that it couldn’t have been easy for Jones to finally agree to release his favorite WR.
“Jerry Jones, he loved me to death, and I loved him, too,” said Bryant. “I honestly believe in my heart that this was a hard decision for him. But when it’s five, six guys at a table against one guy, you got to do it…It was an unfair situation because, if they wanted to get rid of me, they could have told me that…I would have respected it.”
It is also possible that Jones was the mastermind behind Dez Gate. After all, Bryant was due $12.5 million in base salary on a $16.5 million cap hit for 2018. That’s a lot of money for a receiver whose numbers still have not returned to levels they reached during those magical seasons between 2012 and 2014. Maybe Jones simply didn’t want to overpay for a receiver who is only putting up average numbers right now.
Either way, Dez is pissed. And as he left Jones’s house the day the news was broke, Dez promised to see the Cowboys twice a year, and he has expressed interest in joining another NFC East team this offseason.
“I’m just tired of being a scapegoat, tired of all of it,” said Bryant. “I’m a real guy. I’m a real guy, and I just want to prove and I’m going to continue to keep proving that on and off of the field. Like I said, when you do wrong to people, nothing good happens on the other end. I don’t care how great it looks on the outside. It’s all about what it is on the inside…I come from dirt, so I got strong belief and I got strong faith. So it is what it is.”
In other words, the Cowboys messed with the wrong angry receiver, now prepare to deal with him twice a season.
Dez expressed interest in playing for the New York Giants this season, but Brandon Marshall was quick to shut him down in an Instagram post that was deleted. “Sorry baby bro no room. @dezbryant” which was picked up by NFL Update.
“Dez Bryant has been a great player for this franchise during his time here,” Garrett said Tuesday at the Albertsons Companies All-Star Gala in which Pat and Emmitt Smith were presented a Lifetime Achievement Award for their charity work. “Certainly a playmaker, a difference-maker. A guy that we all love. Love him as a player, as a person, and that will never change.
“It’s a challenging situation. A lot of different factors go into these kinds of decisions and again the guidepost for all of this is: What’s in the best interest of the Dallas Cowboys? And that’s why we made this decision. Wish Dez nothing but the best going forward. He’s a special guy. I love him. I will always love him and the impact that he’s made on this franchise has been significant.”