Dez Bryant: Keep, Release or Trade?

[Rtnldave]

1 hour ago, WizardHawk said:

I find it shocking the number of people willing to simply move on from Dez. 

If you are thinking long term, its time to move on from the following:

1. Dez

2. Witten

3. Lee-possibly, maybe one more year with him.

4. Scandrick

Draft a stud TE in round 1 or 2.

Sign a WR or 2 in FA (Iggles did it)

Sign a S in FA (E Thomas or trade Dez to them and see if they bite)

Sign an O lineman in FA and draft one in rounds 1 or 2.

That leaves LB as our only ? 

With that said, solidify our O line so we are a road grading machine.

Get "Dak friendly" WR's that he can grow with and not someone that he clashes with and is past his prime.

Get a LEADER for our secondary, a defensive QB that can recognize formations and put his players into positions to make plays.

If we can do that we will have accomplished three things that can easily get us past the 9 wins we had this year.

• A ball control offense that can run at will, pass the ball with consistency, accuracy and with a low percentage of turnover.
• Wear down the opposing defense, O linemen LOVE to hit rather than drop back and be hit in pass protection.
• Have a defensive backfield that intimidates opposing QB''s. Pair that with a defensive front that can get after the QB (here's to hoping that Charlton reaches his potential and Gregory can come back in football shape and Tapper can stay healthy and Lawrence remains at the level he played at and Irving is on the team next year.) 

Do that, and we have a chance to, not only compete, but hold off the Iggles for the division. Because if they can keep Wentz upright and on the filed often, they will be TOUGH to beat. We need him on the sidelines and enough power up front to move those big hauses out of the way to clear room for Elliott.

[matt79511]

2 hours ago, WizardHawk said:

I find it shocking the number of people willing to simply move on from Dez. 

People said the same thing mid-2012 after that Bears game where he had like 3 drops and ran the wrong route on at least one of Romo's 5 (lol) INTs that night. He went on to have his most productive season from a yardage perspective. He's often been a frustrating player.

The question now is how much is mental and how much is physical? Certainly he seems to have lost some juice, but he was great in the second half/playoffs in '16, so how much could he really have fallen off in a year? I'd try to keep him, but that $12.5M base the next two years is a no-go, and I'm not sure a cap-smoothing extension to a player coming off such a bad year sends the right message to the locker room, since most NFL players don't really understand how NFL contracts work.

[Rtnldave]

6 hours ago, matt79511 said:

People said the same thing mid-2012 after that Bears game where he had like 3 drops and ran the wrong route on at least one of Romo's 5 (lol) INTs that night. He went on to have his most productive season from a yardage perspective. He's often been a frustrating player.

The question now is how much is mental and how much is physical? Certainly he seems to have lost some juice, but he was great in the second half/playoffs in '16, so how much could he really have fallen off in a year? I'd try to keep him, but that $12.5M base the next two years is a no-go, and I'm not sure a cap-smoothing extension to a player coming off such a bad year sends the right message to the locker room, since most NFL players don't really understand how NFL contracts work.

That was also 6 years ago!

[matt79511]

24 minutes ago, Rtnldave said:

That was also 6 years ago!

Right, and 2016-17 was last year, and he *dominated* the Steelers, Ravens, Lions, and Packers. Three of those teams made the playoffs, and the fourth perennially has one of the best defenses in the league.

My point was we've seen Dez go through bad stretches and bounce back. The question for this FO is, to what height can he bounce back to? What's the likeliest scenario? I don't really envy their position on this. It's a tough call.

[Rtnldave]

I hear you matt, and my heart wants to agree with you. The problem is the same one that we have been having: We overpay players when their age and history dictates they cannot live up to their contracts performance wise.

Witten, Dez, Barber, Romo, Owens, Ware, the list goes on and on. They would be better off pursuing a title with another team, just like so many have.

I get Romo was an injury situation, but again, so many injuries and time in the league dictate that your performance will wain, not improve.

We have to start thinking proactively, and trust that the guys we draft or sign via FA can do the job we hire them to do.

Keep it simple. We need:

• A large, fast, separating TE with great hands and could run good routes, find the holes in the defense.
• A powerful, relentless road grading O line. Our best weapon is Zeke. We need to KNOW we can utilize him at any point in a game against any defense. Without that, we have nothing.
• We need WR's that can separate, catch the ball consistently, and make the simple plays. Move the chains. We don't need the drama of the "new triplets" because quite frankly, they are not even close (Dak, Dez, Zeke.) All they need to do is make simple plays. Take your lunch box to work, blue collar plays, Nothing fancy. I believe Dez has the stigma of being or wanting to be a "Playmaker" or "Game Changer" or "Top Five Wr." We don't need that. Our offense and our QB are not set up for that. They are set up for ball control, high percentage pass plays 6-10 yards with the occasional pass play over 10 yards, eat the clock, manage the game, RPO to Zeke or hit your TE over the middle type offense. It isn't sexy, but DID win us 13 games last year.
• Sign a FA WR to a 1 year incentive deal and see if the chemistry is there. Jarvis Landry, Sammy Watkins have been a few names mentioned.
• We have to give our young guys a chance to grow with the present starters and show our older players the door to make room for the young guys. Its a risk, but to be honest, we haven't won a damn thing with Dez, Witten, Lee, Scandrick, etc. Its not going to start now. They had their time.

[td-es]

The most dangerous thing we, as a team, can do is wait one year too late on finding the next guy at WR. I'm a Dez guy, but, Dak needs guys who can get open quickly. That's not Dez. So where do we go? Do we take a chance or lean on what we think we have?

[DaBoys]

4 hours ago, td-es said:

The most dangerous thing we, as a team, can do is wait one year too late on finding the next guy at WR. I'm a Dez guy, but, Dak needs guys who can get open quickly. That's not Dez. So where do we go? Do we take a chance or lean on what we think we have?

Lol Decided to leave out JJ, huh? 

 

Should've gone with td-es-ee

[td-es]

1 hour ago, DaBoys said:

Lol Decided to leave out JJ, huh? 

 

Should've gone with td-es-ee

That was a long and embarrassing road carrying that JJ. Had to finally leave those scarlet letters behind.

 

[///mcompact]

I think it's about a 90% chance he's here in 2018 (or else we're eating an accelerated $12m in dead money) and released in 2019 (only have a $4m dead money hit). 

[Danger]

http://www.prosportsdaily.com/articles/cowboys-likely-to-do-extension-with-bryant-rather-than-cut-him-501046.html

[WizardHawk]

47 minutes ago, Danger said:

http://www.prosportsdaily.com/articles/cowboys-likely-to-do-extension-with-bryant-rather-than-cut-him-501046.html

This is the logical approach and what I would expect to happen. 

[Tony7188]

5 hours ago, Danger said:

http://www.prosportsdaily.com/articles/cowboys-likely-to-do-extension-with-bryant-rather-than-cut-him-501046.html

So stupid. Why would you reward a non producing player who has bad/disruptive behavior with an extension? 

Wait until the draft to see how the chips fall, then make the decision on if you want to extend him or not.

[flyingmonkey30]

1 hour ago, Tony7188 said:

So stupid. Why would you reward a non producing player who has bad/disruptive behavior with an extension? 

Wait until the draft to see how the chips fall, then make the decision on if you want to extend him or not.

They can add a voidable year to his deal, spread the hit over three years instead of two. Gives Dez one extra year of security, and they can move on after the 2019 season.

Or you can cut him and be without a WR1. Those are basically the options.

[DaBoys]

Yeah it's going to be a faux extension I'm sure, with a main goal of lowering the non-producing misbehaving WRs cap hit.

It's not going to be a better deal for Dez, and it wouldn't even be considered if he was producing at the level we expect. So I wouldn't think of it as a reward for Dez.

[Tony7188]

4 hours ago, flyingmonkey30 said:

They can add a voidable year to his deal, spread the hit over three years instead of two. Gives Dez one extra year of security, and they can move on after the 2019 season.

Or you can cut him and be without a WR1. Those are basically the options.

Or you can wait to see how the draft plays out. Maybe Calvin Ridley or Christian Kirk falls and you now have a young, dynamic receiver who will help you move on from Dez after the 2019 season.