After two more regular-season games, plus whatever playoff games for which the Cowboys qualify, receiver Dez Bryant will complete his rookie contract and shed the risk of injury. At that point, the Cowboys will have to decide whether to sign Bryant to a new deal, to apply the one-year franchise tag, or to let Bryant hit the open market.
Currently, it’s not clear what will happen. Bryant has resisted the team’s desire to sign him to a Texas-sized long-term deal, the kind that binds him to the team for the next decade but that allows the team to pull the plug whenever it chooses. There’s no reason to believe that the Cowboys have offered a contract with a structure that Bryant would prefer, and it’s not known whether the Cowboys would devote eight figures in cap space to keep Bryant for 2015.
For the team, it’s a complex stew of issues influenced by cash, cap space, and the available alternatives. With so many young receivers playing well in 2014, the Cowboys may decide to roll the dice in the draft, picking Bryant’s potential replacement in one of the first couple of rounds. If Bryant refuses to do a deal on the team’s terms, that may be the only viable alternative to giving Bryant more money than the team is comfortable paying him.
Someone else will be comfortable paying him; with six catches for 114 yards and three touchdowns on Sunday night, his value barring something unusual or unforeseen will be significant, if/when he’s available to go to the highest bidder.
