Cowboys’ Dez Bryant and Gil Brandt have divergent takes on Dwayne Haskins tragedy

Dallas Cowboys were forced to pause their 2022 NFL Draft discourse on Saturday when news broke that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins tragically died after he got struck by a car in South Florida.

At 24 years old and just three years removed from being drafted No. 15 overall by Washington in 2019, Haskins was said to be more motivated than ever and working tirelessly to prove himself to the Steelers.

Unfortunately for Haskins’ family and loved ones, ESPN’s Adam Schefter, whom Haskins’ agent relayed his passing to, used highly disturbing verbiage in the tweet he sent out to break the news.

In the since-deleted post, Schefter mentioned that Haskins was “struggling to catch on” in the league with Washington and Pittsburgh.

As a result, Schefter received widespread backlash across Twitter. The cavalcade of critics included former Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant, who took the ESPN insider to task in an impassioned reply.

Former Cowboys WR Dez Bryant didn’t appreciate how Adam Schefter relayed the news of Dwayne Haskins’ death.

Bryant certainly has a reputation for causing a stir on Twitter, but the former three-time Pro Bowler spoke for basically everyone who took issue with Schefter’s tweet. Not only did the post lack any semblance of empathy, which is disturbing by itself, but it painted Haskins in a derogatory light. There was no need to mention Haskins’ struggles at the NFL level. End of discussion.

Schefter, who’s had a propensity for sharing (and then deleting) controversial opinions on Twitter in his line of duty, left the tweet up for 20 minutes before replacing it with a more properly worded post.

If you can believe it, the NFL’s foremost insider was outdone by former Cowboys executive Gil Brandt. The Hall of Famer spent 29 years in Dallas’ front office and the team amassed 20 consecutive winning seasons, made five Super Bowls and won two of them during his reign.

Simply put, Brandt is as respected of a former executive as they come. That likely changed on Saturday, however, as the 90-year-old made utterly incomprehensible comments about Haskins’ death.

During a radio interview, Brandt said “Haskins was living to die” and monstrously suggested the tragedy could have been prevented had he stayed at Ohio State a little longer.

The disturbing audio made the rounds on Twitter and Bryant made sure to reiterate the point he made in his initial tweet.

Good on Dez for using his platform to put Brandt on blast.

Whether it be removing Brandt from the Hall of Fame, which some Ohio State alumni are campaigning for, or being stripped of his job as an analyst for NFL Media, Bryant is demanding the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell to take action.

After making those widely insensitive comments, anything should be on the table regarding Brandt’s future. As for Schefter, he’s been down this road too many times for us to even speculate on him being held accountable.

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