Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant is “contemplating not reporting” to the team’s first regular-season game if the sides cannot agree on a long-term deal by the July 15 deadline, .
It’s an interesting, if extreme, strategy taken by Bryant, who essentially holds the cards to any long-term deal between Demaryius Thomas and the Broncos.
Bryant, like Thomas, hasn’t signed his $12.82 million franchise tag. If he and the Cowboys don’t sign a long-term deal by the July deadline, he’ll have to play on the one-year, guaranteed franchise deal or not at all. If he goes with the latter, he won’t get paid, but he also won’t get injured.
Bryant has during their organized team activities, perhaps showing he was willing to play along in the negotiations — to a point. The latest threat sends the message that he refuses play on a franchise deal — not this year or ever. And that may be enough to push the Cowboys into getting a deal done.
Emmitt Smith, as referenced in Mortensen’s report, , holding out of the first two games of the regular season as the sides haggled over his contract. The Cowboys lost both games, which jumpstarted negotiations. After saying he wouldn’t pay Smith as much as the Bills’ Thurman Thomas, in the NFL, Jerry Jones signed Smith to a four-year, $13.6 million contract, worth an average of $25,000 more per year than Thomas.
This is where Thomas comes in. As , neither Bryant nor Thomas want to be the first to sign their deals because the first will, typically, receive less. The first becomes the benchmark for the other.
Thomas has held out of the team’s offseason workout program and could hold out of training camp if a deal is not reached by the deadline, which would likely upset Peyton Manning since he values his offseason reps with his receivers.
“When you’re out there on the field, you certainly wish that No. 88 was out there,” Manning said last month. “At the same time, Demaryius is a young player. He’s played extremely well the first few years in his career. In my opinion, he has established himself as one of the top receivers in the NFL. I want what’s best for him. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want him to be out there on the left or right side opposite Emmanuel (Sanders) during these practices. I understand it and I want what’s best for him. I really do. Hopefully there is that happy medium for both sides and we can get him in here soon and put it all behind everybody.”
It would be a surprise if Thomas opted to miss regular-season games, but playing on a rental surely won’t sit well with him either. His play could suffer and, of course, future negotiations with the Broncos could be affected.
So how far is either willing to take it? Brace yourself for an interesting couple of months.
