Dez A No-Show At Cowboys Minicamp
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IRVING, Tex. — To nobody’s surprise, wide receiver Dez Bryant is a minicamp no-show for the Dallas Cowboys.
Bryant boycotted the team’s offseason program during a contract dispute. He has yet to sign his franchise tender of $12.8 million and is making threats about sitting out games if they don’t get a deal done before the July 15 deadline.
Bryant’s agent, Tom Condon, reiterated Tuesday on SiriusXM NFL Radio that Bryant “is willing to miss regular-season games” if the sides can’t come to a long-term agreement.
The two sides have not had any real contract talks since Bryant switched from Eugene Parker in November to Jay Z’s new sports agency, with Condon handling the negotiations.
Vice president Stephen Jones said the situation is pretty much out of the Cowboys control. He said on Sirius radio that the two sides are too far apart to get a deal done before July 15.
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said he is not concerned about the situation because he knows Bryant is working hard and will be ready to go whenever he gets here.
“We all just focus on what we can control,” Garrett said. “Dez is getting himself ready. He’s in a situation where the business of the NFL is taking precedence right now. But he’s working hard on his own, away from
our building. It’s not a unique situation when you’re a franchise player, for guys to do that.
But Dez loves football. Dez wants to be great. He wants our team to be great. So he’s working hard on his own. Our team, everyone who’s here, we’re working on what we can control. So there’s a lot of speculation about a lot of things with our team. We really don’t focus on that stuff very much. We focus on coming to work every day and trying to be our best.”
Garrett said he is not concerned one bit about Bryant missing games to start the regular season.
“That’s being floated by other people,” Garrett said. “We’re not really focused on that. Dez is getting ready to come to work, and he’s going to work hard every day, whether he’s in this building or outside of this building, and the guys who are here every day are going to work to get better. Dez loves football. He’s got a great passion for the game, a great passion for our team. He’ll take care of his business. We’ll take care of our business. And hopefully all that stuff can get worked out sooner rather than later.”
