Dez Bryant‘s reputation in the NFL appears to be preceding him.
Bryant has indicated that he cares more about playing for the right team than making the right money, even suggesting that he cares more about staying in the NFC East so he can play the Cowboys twice than anything else. But there may not be many teams willing to sign Bryant for any amount of money.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that there are “far more” teams unwilling to pay Bryant the league minimum salary than there are teams that would consider signing Bryant for any contract.
That makes it all the more surprising that Bryant turned down an offer from the Ravens, which was reportedly in the neighborhood of the three-year, $21 million contract Baltimore previously gave to receiver Michael Crabtree. If most teams aren’t even willing to pay Bryant $1 million, why turn down an offer of $7 million?
If Bryant is truly willing to play for anything to stay in the NFC East, and Washington, Philadelphia and the New York Giants are all unwilling to offer him even the league minimum, that says a lot about what teams think the 29-year-old Bryant has left at this point in his career.