Genghis Khan
The worst version of myself
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Yep. Would have been a big mistake I think. The production has never been there and the money is ludicrous.
Cowboys hot topic: It may be time for an “amicable divorce” from Dez Bryant
- Thread starter lostxn
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Health concerns would have made me very uneasy.
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Well that may be true. But having a terrible year on offense and then just standing pat with all the same aging players and assuming things will correct themselves is silly. Dez's talent no longer meets the contract. So even if we waited one more year. A year from now when Linehan is gone and Dez is 30, we're still going to be unhappy with his 16.5 mil contract. You either try to make things better for Dak or your replace Dak but keeping everyone together and praying that they just do better is senile.
Smitty
DCC 4Life
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Once public sentiment turns on a guy, average joe goes off the deep end.
This Dez stuff is just getting ridiculous now.
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Dez Bryant will train with route guru to polish his game
Dez Bryant has yet to sit down with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to discuss his future with the franchise.
Now that the first wave of free agency has come and gone without a marquee wide receiver landing in Dallas, however, Bryant is working to improve his standing with the team.
On the heels of a disappointing 2017 season, Bryant plans to train with personal wide receivers coach David Robinson next month, NFL Network's Jane Slater recently reported.
The regimen is the wideout's equivalent to the offseason tweaks and tune-ups that quarterbacks undergo with noted passing gurus such as Tom House, Adam Dedeaux, George Whitfield and Jordan Palmer. Among the players benefitting from Robinson's tutelage to date: Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, Jordan Reed and Cowboysteammate Brice Butler.
Asked for details on the upcoming workouts, Robinson told Slater that he would concentrate on expansion of Bryant's route tree, shaking defenders at the line of scrimmage and improving footwork technique to compensate for natural loss of speed due to the aging process.
Robinson's program reads like a checklist of criticisms encountered by Bryant during an ongoing streak of 23 consecutive regular-season games without a 100-yard performance.
It's especially noteworthy that the three-time Pro Bowl selection is working with a route guru after NFL Network analyst Steve Smith highlighted Bryant's shortcomings in that area prior to a late-November game last season.
"One thing that I've noticed with top-tier guys, they have a Ph.D. in route running," Smith explained. "They can run every route on the route tree. With Dez as he's becoming older ... you have to be able to run all of those routes because your speed, you lose a step a little bit, you're not as fast as you used to be when you were twentysomething."
Smith clarified that Bryant is typically limited to three routes: a push-off hitch, a jumpball go and a slant.
After listening to Slater's report, KRLD-FM's The Ben & Skin Show in Dallas-Fort Worth reached out to Robinson for further insight on his plans to transform Bryant from a limited jumpball specialist into a well-rounded route technician.
Bryant still shows a lot of explosiveness in and out of cuts at age 29, Robinson insists, but the Cowboys' scheme has concentrated primarily on routes that emphasize his strengths. In other words, Bryant's skillset has grown rusty, necessitating workouts that will "wake that muscle memory up," allowing him to sink his hips, sharpen the top of his routes and refine press-release techniques.
"In my opinion, I definitely think that Dez can run the whole complete route tree," Robinson added. "He just hasn't been asked to do so. And I believe they also need to move him around a bit, too: outside, put him in the slot some because he's a mismatch to a lot of defenders."
Will Cowboys coaches follow through on that prescription to expand Bryant's role? Will offseason and training-camp practices encourage quarterback Dak Prescott to place greater trust in his nominal No. 1 target's ability to separate from coverage?
Bryant is facing as much scrutiny as any wideout in 2018. While he deserves credit for going above and beyond to polish his skills, skepticism will hound him until he proves that a nine-year veteran can learn new tricks to extend the prime of his career.
- By Chris Wesseling
- Around the NFL Writer
Dez Bryant has yet to sit down with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to discuss his future with the franchise.
Now that the first wave of free agency has come and gone without a marquee wide receiver landing in Dallas, however, Bryant is working to improve his standing with the team.
On the heels of a disappointing 2017 season, Bryant plans to train with personal wide receivers coach David Robinson next month, NFL Network's Jane Slater recently reported.
The regimen is the wideout's equivalent to the offseason tweaks and tune-ups that quarterbacks undergo with noted passing gurus such as Tom House, Adam Dedeaux, George Whitfield and Jordan Palmer. Among the players benefitting from Robinson's tutelage to date: Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, Jordan Reed and Cowboysteammate Brice Butler.
Asked for details on the upcoming workouts, Robinson told Slater that he would concentrate on expansion of Bryant's route tree, shaking defenders at the line of scrimmage and improving footwork technique to compensate for natural loss of speed due to the aging process.
Robinson's program reads like a checklist of criticisms encountered by Bryant during an ongoing streak of 23 consecutive regular-season games without a 100-yard performance.
It's especially noteworthy that the three-time Pro Bowl selection is working with a route guru after NFL Network analyst Steve Smith highlighted Bryant's shortcomings in that area prior to a late-November game last season.
"One thing that I've noticed with top-tier guys, they have a Ph.D. in route running," Smith explained. "They can run every route on the route tree. With Dez as he's becoming older ... you have to be able to run all of those routes because your speed, you lose a step a little bit, you're not as fast as you used to be when you were twentysomething."
Smith clarified that Bryant is typically limited to three routes: a push-off hitch, a jumpball go and a slant.
After listening to Slater's report, KRLD-FM's The Ben & Skin Show in Dallas-Fort Worth reached out to Robinson for further insight on his plans to transform Bryant from a limited jumpball specialist into a well-rounded route technician.
Bryant still shows a lot of explosiveness in and out of cuts at age 29, Robinson insists, but the Cowboys' scheme has concentrated primarily on routes that emphasize his strengths. In other words, Bryant's skillset has grown rusty, necessitating workouts that will "wake that muscle memory up," allowing him to sink his hips, sharpen the top of his routes and refine press-release techniques.
"In my opinion, I definitely think that Dez can run the whole complete route tree," Robinson added. "He just hasn't been asked to do so. And I believe they also need to move him around a bit, too: outside, put him in the slot some because he's a mismatch to a lot of defenders."
Will Cowboys coaches follow through on that prescription to expand Bryant's role? Will offseason and training-camp practices encourage quarterback Dak Prescott to place greater trust in his nominal No. 1 target's ability to separate from coverage?
Bryant is facing as much scrutiny as any wideout in 2018. While he deserves credit for going above and beyond to polish his skills, skepticism will hound him until he proves that a nine-year veteran can learn new tricks to extend the prime of his career.
Chocolate Lab
Mere Commoner
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Good god. Is there anyone who doesn't call out Garrett's paint by numbers offensive scheme?
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It's the problem with all our recievers. We pidgeon hole them into such narrow roles that it makes it easy for defenses to predict what they will do and defend it.
Genghis Khan
The worst version of myself
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I was thinking the same thing in reading the article. It reads like a major indictment of the coaching staff.
ravidubey
DCC 4Life
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So Dez isn’t the turd you were calling him earlier?
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Everyone notices the problem except for the people inside The Star in Frisco.
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You do realize there can be more than 1 problem at a time right? There isn't just a single issue causing everything.
p1_
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Cowboys Appear to Be Moving on From Dez Bryant
By Jean-Jacques Taylor
Published at 6:50 PM CDT on Mar 23, 2018
Whether it was Stephen Jones, Jason Garrett or, to some degree, Jerry Jones, the Cowboys have been telling you for weeks they were hardly afraid to contemplate life without Dez Bryant.
Well, they proved it Friday afternoon when they agreed to terms with free agent receiver Allen Hurns on a two-year deal worth as much as $12 million.
A day earlier, the Cowboys signed receiver Deonte Thompson to a one-year deal worth $2.5 million.
The Cowboys now have seven receivers under contract: Dez Bryant ($12.5 million), Terance Williams ($3.5), Cole Beasley ($3.25 million), Ryan Switzer ($555,000), Noah Brown ($555,000), Thompson and Hurns.
Somebody’s gotta go; it should be Bryant.
Even if he agrees to a massive pay cut - the one the Cowboys’ front office has been hinting about for weeks - Dallas isn’t keeping seven receivers.
On most Sundays, only five are active and Switzer was exclusively a kick and punt returner for much of the season.
The reality is the Cowboys have grown weary of Bryant’s petulance and now they’ve made plans to overhaul their receiver core starting with the 29-year-old receiver.
Hurns, 26, is a four-year veteran, who has missed 11 games since 2015. That’s the year, he caught 64 passes for 1,031 yards and 10 touchdowns, which led to a four-year $40 million contract with Jacksonville.
He’s been hampered by injuries the past two years, combining to catch just 74 passes for 961 yards and five touchdowns.
He can play outside and in the slot, and the Cowboys think his ability to catch the ball is his best attribute.
Jacksonville cut him this week, creating an opportunity for Dallas to sign him.
The 29-year-old Thompson is the epitome of a journeyman. The Cowboys are the eight-year veteran’s fourth team, and he spent last year with Chicago and Buffalo.
In Buffalo, he 27 passes for 430 yards, a 15.9 average, in 11 games.
Neither one of these players is as good as Bryant in his prime. The problem, of course, is Bryant isn’t in his prime any more.
Adding two receivers this week should come as no surprise. Don’t forget, the Cowboys were surprised Sammy Watkins picked the Chiefs over the Cowboys during the first couple of days of free agency because the offers were were similar financially.
If Watkins had joined the Cowboys last week, then Dallas would’ve released Bryant then.
Whenever it happens, sooner rather than later is the best guess, they will probably designate him as a post-June 1 cut and save about $12 million against the salary cap.
Bryant has averaged 50 catches for 639 yards and six touchdowns in the three years since he signed a five-year, $70 million deal after the 2014 season.
Last year, he caught 69 passes for 838 yards and six touchdowns. He hasn’t had a100-yard game in 22 starts.
And he turns 30 in November.
Now, maybe, the Cowboys could deal with all of those negatives if Bryant were the consummate professional, but he’s not.
This isn’t about practice habits or work ethic or staying in shape. He’s beyond reproach, when it comes to that.
This is about showing up on time for treatment, if he shows up at all.
This is about treating folks within the organization with the utmost of respect at all times.
This is about the occasional sideline tantrums and his bad influence on Williams and Beasley whether it’s real or perceived
If he was still averaging 91 catches for 1,312 yards and 14 touchdowns a lot of these things would not be an issue.
But those days are gone; his act has worn thin and his support has eroded.
Aside from Jerry there’s not many, if any, folks in the front office, coaching or training staff who will fight to keep him on the 2018 roster.
That’s why he’ll be wearing another team’s uniform next season.
By Jean-Jacques Taylor
Published at 6:50 PM CDT on Mar 23, 2018
Whether it was Stephen Jones, Jason Garrett or, to some degree, Jerry Jones, the Cowboys have been telling you for weeks they were hardly afraid to contemplate life without Dez Bryant.
Well, they proved it Friday afternoon when they agreed to terms with free agent receiver Allen Hurns on a two-year deal worth as much as $12 million.
A day earlier, the Cowboys signed receiver Deonte Thompson to a one-year deal worth $2.5 million.
The Cowboys now have seven receivers under contract: Dez Bryant ($12.5 million), Terance Williams ($3.5), Cole Beasley ($3.25 million), Ryan Switzer ($555,000), Noah Brown ($555,000), Thompson and Hurns.
Somebody’s gotta go; it should be Bryant.
Even if he agrees to a massive pay cut - the one the Cowboys’ front office has been hinting about for weeks - Dallas isn’t keeping seven receivers.
On most Sundays, only five are active and Switzer was exclusively a kick and punt returner for much of the season.
The reality is the Cowboys have grown weary of Bryant’s petulance and now they’ve made plans to overhaul their receiver core starting with the 29-year-old receiver.
Hurns, 26, is a four-year veteran, who has missed 11 games since 2015. That’s the year, he caught 64 passes for 1,031 yards and 10 touchdowns, which led to a four-year $40 million contract with Jacksonville.
He’s been hampered by injuries the past two years, combining to catch just 74 passes for 961 yards and five touchdowns.
He can play outside and in the slot, and the Cowboys think his ability to catch the ball is his best attribute.
Jacksonville cut him this week, creating an opportunity for Dallas to sign him.
The 29-year-old Thompson is the epitome of a journeyman. The Cowboys are the eight-year veteran’s fourth team, and he spent last year with Chicago and Buffalo.
In Buffalo, he 27 passes for 430 yards, a 15.9 average, in 11 games.
Neither one of these players is as good as Bryant in his prime. The problem, of course, is Bryant isn’t in his prime any more.
Adding two receivers this week should come as no surprise. Don’t forget, the Cowboys were surprised Sammy Watkins picked the Chiefs over the Cowboys during the first couple of days of free agency because the offers were were similar financially.
If Watkins had joined the Cowboys last week, then Dallas would’ve released Bryant then.
Whenever it happens, sooner rather than later is the best guess, they will probably designate him as a post-June 1 cut and save about $12 million against the salary cap.
Bryant has averaged 50 catches for 639 yards and six touchdowns in the three years since he signed a five-year, $70 million deal after the 2014 season.
Last year, he caught 69 passes for 838 yards and six touchdowns. He hasn’t had a100-yard game in 22 starts.
And he turns 30 in November.
Now, maybe, the Cowboys could deal with all of those negatives if Bryant were the consummate professional, but he’s not.
This isn’t about practice habits or work ethic or staying in shape. He’s beyond reproach, when it comes to that.
This is about showing up on time for treatment, if he shows up at all.
This is about treating folks within the organization with the utmost of respect at all times.
This is about the occasional sideline tantrums and his bad influence on Williams and Beasley whether it’s real or perceived
If he was still averaging 91 catches for 1,312 yards and 14 touchdowns a lot of these things would not be an issue.
But those days are gone; his act has worn thin and his support has eroded.
Aside from Jerry there’s not many, if any, folks in the front office, coaching or training staff who will fight to keep him on the 2018 roster.
That’s why he’ll be wearing another team’s uniform next season.
L.T. Fan
I'm Easy If You Are
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So do I. Butler is the only verticle threat. Williams may have the speed for a verticle game but with tight coverage a defender doesn’t have to out stretch him for the ball. Williams usually waits for the ball to come to his chest
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Speaking on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said the club has yet to meet with Dez Bryant regarding the receiver's contract. Last week Jerry Jones said he hopes to meet with Bryant this week. "When we do we'll let you know and the guy who will do that will be Jerry," Stephen Jones said.
Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer
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Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer
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