Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made it clear yesterday he’s not interested in re-signing Dez Bryant later.
And it appears no one else will be before the draft either.
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Bryant won’t be signing with anyone before the draft.
As a practical matter, that makes sense, because, you know, the draft begins tomorrow and people are kind of busy with that. But it could also impact his future, as any team considering him might think differently if a receiver of their preference is there in the early rounds and they’re able to grab one.
It also underscores the disservice the Cowboys did Bryant by squatting on him as long as they did. If he’d have been on the market in March, he might have benefitted from the largesse that saw receivers with much smaller resumes get much bigger money.
Perhaps his desire to sign with an NFC East rival played into the Cowboys’ thinking, but they severely limited his market by waiting to cut him until teams had signed other receivers and spent all their cap space. Now he’s going to have to wait to see if his market is depleted to a greater degree by rookies.