Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant spent the offseason away from the team trying to get a long-term contract from the Cowboys after receiving the franchise tag, which meant he wasn’t part of the offseason training program in Dallas.
Bryant got that contract in July and returned to the field with the team in training camp for a brief spell before a hamstring injury knocked him out for the preseason. Bryant then broke his foot in the first week of the regular season and the season pretty much spiraled from there for both him and the Cowboys.
Bryant had surgery in January and coach Jason Garrett said Saturday that the wideout is making progress in his recovery, but he hasn’t been cleared for football activities yet. Garrett would like it if he is cleared in time to take part in June’s minicamp, adding that the team isn’t going to hold him back if the doctors give the green light.
“I don’t think there’s any balance. It’s all about just being healthy,” Garrett said, via ESPN.com. “As soon as he’s healthy, he’ll get integrated back in. He’s doing everything we’re asking him to do with his rehab, and he’s making progress. There will be different thresholds he’ll have as we would with any injured player, ‘He’s doing this well, let’s take the next step. He’s doing this well, let’s take the next step.’ So we’ll do that with him, and hopefully over the course of the offseason and into training camp he’ll start playing some football with us.”
Having a healthy Bryant and Tony Romo in the lineup is essential to whatever hopes of success the Cowboys have this season, which suggests that things will continue to move cautiously in order to ensure nothing gets in the way of that between now and September.