Dallas Cowboys Will Pay Dez Bryant Long Term

Dec 21, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant (88) catches the ball for a touchdown over Indianapolis Colts cornerback Greg Toler (28) in the first quarter at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Just in case you’re wondering, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will extend the contract of wide receiver Dez Bryant in the near future.

This has been a topic of discussion, among several others, when considering what players the Cowboys will end up keeping next season.

Bryant completes his initial five-year, $11.8 million dollar rookie contract once this season ends for Dallas. We already know that this will happen sometime in January of 2015, so this fact alone makes Bryant’s coming extension with the Cowboys a virtual certainty.

No, I don’t have a crystal ball to gaze into, but this is truly a ‘no brainer’ where the Cowboys future is concerned. Bryant fits every facet of a player reaching his prime that is worth every penny moving forward. Further, the organization isn’t exactly hurting at the quarterback position either.

I have considered the argument before that Dallas should trade Bryant, especially before this season when it seemed like this team just needed too many other pieces in order to contend.

Then came a completely unexpected performance in 2014 by the entire Cowboys organization, which obviously includes another 1000-plus yard receiving season for Bryant, and we’re not even finished with the regular season just yet.

Jones actually traded up in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft to secure Bryant’s services as the best young wide receiver prospect. The former Oklahoma State Cowboys pass catcher came with some off-the-field baggage, but most of that was created by an outdated NCAA that’s far more Orwellian than it is simply regulatory.

Bryant had some growing up to do and it certainly appears that he’s done that. He’s never been short on talent, work ethic or competitiveness. This is why he’s among the top three wide receivers in the NFL and far from a problem in the locker room.

Jones remembers well the services of a former receiver who also wore No. 88, but not the one who also shared the last name Bryant (Antonio) that was exiled to the Cleveland Browns a decade ago. I speak of none other than Michael Irvin, who happens to reside in the NFL Hall of Fame right now with three Super Bowl rings.

Today’s Bryant is a better receiver than any of those previous primary wideouts to wear the blue star – and we can go ahead and include the original No. 88, Drew Pearson as well. When you have a player with Bryant’s combination of size, speed, power, youth and hands, you’ve got to keep him around.

It’s true that wide receivers can be taken out of games. In some cases they may touch the ball anywhere from zero to two times, thus making it hard to justify forking over so much money – I completely agree with this philosophy, by the way.

However, some guys are just special, and despite the fact that this is the first year that Bryant and the Cowboys will share a postseason birth, it’s a safe argument that Dallas began it’s slow, irritating push back into relevancy as early as his rookie season of ’10. Granted, the Cowboys were a playoff team just the season before, but former star receiver Terrell Owens really needed to be replaced.

Enter Bryant, and the results really speak for themselves.

Bryant is the type of receiver who’s capable of reaching 2,000 yards receiving, although not very likely so long as Dallas passing game coordinator Scott Linehan continues calling plays. The Pro Bowl receiver is the kind of elite pass catcher that no cornerback in the NFL can cover one-on-one.

Jones learned his lesson when he passed on wide receiver Randy Moss in the 1998 NFL Draft. He also got a rough education during Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith’s holdout as the 1993 regular season began.

Those two scenarios and players were drastically different, but there was a common denominator as well: Talent wins championships, something Jones already knew with Smith but also something he may very well have missed out on when skipping Moss for defensive end Greg Ellis.

Tell me that a duo of Irvin and Moss in ’98 would not have catapulted a weakened Dallas playoff team right back into the NFC Championship game, at the very least.

Does Bryant deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as those players?

Yes, he does.

Bryant just turned 26 years old in November, which means that Jones can expect another three to five seasons of dominant play from his primary wide receiver – quite possibly more than that. This is well within the domain of smart book-keeping in the salary cap era when considering what a player like Bryant brings to the organization.

Franchise tag?

Forget it.

Jones has been muttering this phrase this week to the Dallas media, and when you hear comments like these captured by Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News, don’t even pay it any attention:

"Every team uses the franchise [tag]. The franchise [tag] is a vital part of putting a roster together today, either the leverage of the franchise position or the using of it. It’s just as valid as 10 percent of your cap money available to you. You cannot on any given one situation not make [the] franchise [tag] a very viable alternative. Boy, these guys are rewarded by getting that franchise money now."

Jones went on to insert his foot into his mouth a little deeper:

"I don’t need to give anybody a lesson here on cap economics, but the dollar doesn’t come to me, it goes to another teammate."

Mr. Jones, your franchise was valued at $2.1 billion by Forbes this year while your annual profit comes to $227 million. There’s a few pennies in there for you, right?

Yet, when Jones is asked if there’s a chance that Bryant could play elsewhere in ’15, the 26-year veteran owner changes his tune a bit:

"No. We have the franchise [tag]. For sure. Not at all. You’re talking about Dez? We have the franchise alternative, which I thought everybody was aware of."

Sarcasm aside, this is the sound of a playfully aggravated billionaire who simply has no leverage to play with. This is the cost of doing business in the NFL.

Sign Bryant, period.