The Dallas Cowboys and Dez Bryant have been working on a contract this offseason, but rumors about a video showing an alleged incident that may or may not include Bryant have slowed things down and reports say that could be the reason why Jerry Jones and the Cowboys are looking to use the franchise tag on Bryant over striking a long term deal.
Bryant is coming off of his third straight monster season and he is ready to cash in, but the team has been slow to get a deal done. Bryant has taken his frustrations to social media and now news outlets are speculating about what the video is and whether it will be released or not. The Cowboys have said they are not aware of any video and are not concerned about it, but the way the negotiations are going could show how they really feel.
Either way, Bryant is going to get paid, but it could be a one year deal on a tag or a long term agreement if they can get a contract done. The Cowboys want to bring back Bryant, but they also have DeMarco Murray on the market and that could make things complicated as well. Bryant is the more dominant player at his position and with Murray dealing with injury issues in the past, there is a good chance the team keeps Bryant over Murray if they just pick one.
Bryant is coming into the offseason after having three straight strong seasons and last year was his best with 16 touchdowns, a career high. Bryant had 88 receptions for 1320 yards and that came after he put up 92 and 93 receptions in the previous two seasons with at least 1200 yards in the past three. Bryant is a dominant player and the cowboys do not want to lose him, but the speculation could be slowing things down. Bryant vaguely referenced the rumors in social media and said that it was "BS" and that he doesn't let people take advantage of him anymore.
According to Pro Football Talk, the incident in question was taken from a police report in Texas in 2011 that may have involved an assault. The report says that a woman was seen being dragged from one car to another across a Wal-Mart parking lot. Bryant was connected to the situation through cars registered in his name and he later showed up to the parking lot with the woman, who claimed she called him after the incident happened. It is not known if Bryant was directly involved or if he was seen on video. Police say they do not halve any video.
Bryant's tag number would be around $13 million if he was tagged by the Cowboys. Over the past few years the Cowboys have tries to reel in Bryant from his off the field issues and it appeared to have been working, as he had been a good citizen with the team over the past year. The report does not say that Bryant was the man pulling the woman. When the police showed up, the car that the woman was being dragged from was empty with the doors open. The car was registered to Bryant, as was the car driven by two men who said they came to pick up the car for the woman.
