Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant is 29 years old, and may already be past his prime.
That’s the word from Albert Breer of SI.com, who reports that the Cowboys’ coaches began to see Bryant slip physically in 2015 and now think he just isn’t the same player he was when the Cowboys signed him to a five-year, $70 million contract. That physical decline is measurable, as Bryant has lost inches on his vertical jump.
“Based on last year,” one member of the Cowboys’ staff told Breer, “he does very few things really well.”
Bryant was averaging 1,312 yards a season in the three years before he signed his contract. In the three years since signing his contract, Bryant has averaged 678 yards a season. Given that Bryant is owed $12.5 million, it’s easy to see the Cowboys cutting him.
However, Jerry Jones has always liked Bryant, and it’s Jones’s team. It’s possible that Jones will decide to give Bryant another year to prove himself. But it’s also possible that Bryant, who once looked likely to be a Cowboy for life, could be gone before turning 30.