Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said that the team is leaning toward using the franchise tag on wide receiver Dez Bryant before the March 2 deadline to do so passes, a decision that wouldn’t be necessary if they agree on a long-term deal.
Based on Bryant’s response to a Twitter user who remarked that they loved how dedicated Bryant was to the franchise, that long-term deal doesn’t sound like it is imminent. The wideout responded by writing that he wished the Cowboys “felt the same way but it’s cool, it’s business.”
The business works both ways as Ed Werder of ESPN reports that Bryant will likely skip offseason work with the team if they use the tag on him in the next two weeks, something that’s long been part of the franchise tag dance that teams and players do with one another. That will probably suit the Cowboys fine if Bryant is back at work come training camp to continue a career that’s seen him catch an NFL-best 56 touchdowns since the start of the 2010 season.
That’s more over the first five years of a career than any receiver other than Jerry Rice and Randy Moss, which makes it easy to understand why the Cowboys want to keep Bryant around and why Bryant would like more of a commitment than the franchise tag would represent.
