Insider’s shocking pick for Cowboys most disappointing player

A surprising name came up when a Dallas Cowboys insider was asked who was the most disappointing player in training camp so far.

Into the first week of training camp, the Dallas Cowboys players are adjusting to football life once again. Nagging injuries, fatigue and dehydration are normal issues that rear their ugly heads during this time of acclimation. So if you ask onlookers which player is under-performing the most so far, it’s likely a near impossible task as most of them are simply trying to get their sea legs, so to speak.

But when some Cowboys insiders were asked recently who was the most disappointing player at training camp so far, former NFL scout Bryan Broaddus pointed to a rather unexpected name.

"“Dez Bryant to me hasn’t been [the] Dez Bryant we thought he might be coming into this,” responded football analyst Bryan Broaddus during the Cowboys Break podcast on the team’s official site on Wednesday. “Give the defensive backs a little credit on this one too. Brandon Carr and Mo Claiborne have done a really nice job. But we haven’t seen Dez Bryant really shake loose…I thought he was going to be a little bit more of a dominate player coming back and talking to him in the offseason…he just really hasn’t got on track yet. Disappointing might be the wrong word. But a player that I thought would have a little bit more bounce to him, i thought it’d been Dez Bryant.”"

Don’t take the above comment to mean Broaddus doesn’t believe Bryant can not return to being his dominate self in 2016, as confirmed by the below twitter response to that very question.

Instead, this choice should be viewed more as the talented wide out is shaking off the rust from two surgeries, an idle offseason and the headache of a 4-12 regular season. Bryant himself admitted having trust issues with his surgically-repaired foot last year.

Bryant suffered a Jones’ fracture in his right foot in the Cowboys regular season opener against the New York Giants last year.  After an initial surgery to correct the injury, Dez returned to the field in Week Eight against the Seattle Seahawks. But he never looked quite himself.

The Cowboys made Bryant inactive in Week 16 and placed him on Injured Reserve before for the final game of the regular season. The 27-year old then had another surgery on his foot, as well as his ankle, in early January. The Cowboys Pro Bowl receiver wasn’t even cleared for football activities until June 1st.

The opening of training camp was really the first time Bryant has been allowed to properly practice all offseason. It’s very likely his slow start is simply a matter of shaking the rust off.

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Let’s not forget the Cowboys cornerbacks in this scenario as well. Carr, Claiborne and free safety Byron Jones have all been receiving praise for their improved play so far in training camp. Their strong showing and Bryant’s rust is likely the only reasons Dez hasn’t gotten off to a start most expected. But that certainly doesn’t mean the talented receiver will not be in prime form come September. Let’s revisit this question when training camp ends.