Dez Bryant’s biggest act of leverage in his quest for a new contract is a threat to withhold services.
But even though he’s threatened to skip the opener if he doesn’t get a new long-term deal by the July 15 deadline, there are also plenty of signs the franchise-tagged wide receiver is not particularly serious about going through with it.
The latest came yesterday, as noted by the Dallas Morning News, when Bryant participated in a promotional photo shoot for NBC.
As in, our network, which happens to carry Sunday Night Football. As in, the network which shows the Cowboys opener against the Giants. You know, the game he’s not going to play in.
Bryant has played peek-a-boo with the Cowboys throughout the offseason, showing up from time to time at conditioning work, or running some individual drills during OTAs, or hanging on the sidelines with Tony Romo during minicamp, when he chatted and shared a man-hug with owner Jerry Jones.
So Bryant may go through with his threat, but he’s not giving any indication it’s a valid one, and the Cowboys seem to know that too.