Dez Bryant complained last week that the Cowboys aren’t as dedicated to him as he is to them. But Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones says that if Bryant has to play this season on the franchise tag, Bryant will be a happy camper.
Jones said he’d prefer to get a long-term deal done with Bryant, who becomes a free agent on March 10. But if that doesn’t happen, Jones said he’ll use the one-year, $13 million franchise tag on Bryant, and Bryant will live with it.
“I’ve never seen anybody just pout to the extent that they wouldn’t do it over this kind of money,” Jones told ESPN. “That usually is not realistic. It’s just too much money.”
Jones is still hoping not to have to use the franchise tag on Bryant.
“I can tell you I’m not that excited about the franchise tag with Dez simply because I’d like to have our agreement and our business in place for a long time to come with Dez,” Jones said.
That’s probably not going to happen before the start of free agency, and it might not happen before the start of the season. If it turns out that Bryant has to play on the franchise tag, Jones is expecting him to play just as hard as he did last year.