Dallas Cowboys: Is there a role for Dez Bryant on this team?

The Dallas Cowboys have already taken a few risks this offseason, so what’s one more? It should help that familiarity makes this potential risk a bit safer.

The Dallas Cowboys are knee-deep into preparation for this upcoming season. They have re-tooled their defensive front after losing a few key members from last season, while they still have a bit of work to do on the other side’s front line. This speaks mostly to the retirement of Travis Frederick.

They added a playmaker to the defensive secondary as well, as Jeff Heath decided to head west to Las Vegas. Although no two things were more important than getting Dak Prescott tagged and Amari Cooper signed to a long term deal, they also lost Randall Cobb to the Houston Texans. This is where the fun starts.

With the exodus of Cobb, that opens the door wide open for the third receiver’s position. While you could fill that role with those already on the roster, they could elect to draft or sign someone. This coming NFL draft has been called ” potentially historic” at the receiver position as well, which could make things interesting as far as which way they decide to go.

While digging through what they have on the roster or drafting a guy are two of the more efficient options available to the Cowboys, another option that may not be a bad one to look at is the third. If they indeed do look to sign a guy, one name that has been linked back to the Cowboys, shall we say, is Dez Bryant. There lies the question though, does he fit?

The answer is yes, if healthy and with stipulations. Simply by the nature of the business, the Dallas Cowboys would need to protect themselves health and production-wise at all costs. With that understanding out of the way, let’s dig into the other stuff.

Dez Bryant can without a doubt still man the position of the outside receiver, but with Michael Gallup and Coop in place, could he work from the inside? I believe so.

Dez’s style has always been of a more physical nature, which works well on the inside, where you need to be able to out-muscle defenders such as Gronk did or be highly effective in quick short bursts, such as Julian Edelman.

If healthy, Dez can still be a good mix of both of those, which should also help as far as if he has lost a step or two. Having no boundary as far as the sideline, which leaves the defender more susceptible to pure speed or power moves, should give Bryant a great opportunity to still contribute at a high level if they choose to deploy him that way.

He could just be another weapon to sub in for either starter, a high-level third receiver in three-wide sets, or an outside receiver while kicking one of the presumed starters inside, the third one being one in which I highly doubt. Either way and again, if he is healthy, there is definitely a role for him on this team.

This especially because of his overall familiarity with the team, the situation, the quarterback and with Dak Prescott’s security blanket in Randall Cobb deciding to walk to Houston. Nothing like reunions to bring on the good ju-ju.