The facts pointed to a long holdout. The Cowboys opened camp before any other team, the first-round draft pick had been caught up in several controversial situations, prompting plenty of folks to wonder whether he “gets it,” and the agent had failed in 17 of 18 prior instances to get a first-round client into camp on time.
As recently as Tuesday, ESPN’s John Clayton suggested that the player and the agent would try to get top-ten value in Dez Bryant’s contract, despite being selected 24th overall.
Instead, receiver Dez Bryant ended up being the first first-rounder to agree to terms.
“This was very important to me to be able to get this done in time for the first practice,” Bryant said in comments distributed by the team. “I want to help this team. I want to compete. I can’t wait to start playing football again.”
The fact that Bryant missed most of the 2009 college football season helped create that sense of urgency. The fact that agent Eugene Parker’s decision to hold out 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree into the regular season last year in the hopes of leapfrogging the deal given to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, taken three spots ahead of Crabtree, backfired on player and agent likely prompted Parker to ignore the lure of taking a stand in the hopes of hitting a home run.
So it all worked out well for the team, the player, and the agent. Precisely how well (or otherwise) depends upon the precise details of the deal.