Where is Dez Bryant?

The NFL season kicked off last night and goes into full swing this weekend and despite vows by many to never watch another game because of Kaepernick, I think ratings will be just fine due to a man’s need to get out of the house, hang with his buddies and eat chicken wings while hoping his fantasy running back has a big game. Lost in all of this is the plight of former all pro receiver Dez Bryant. He was released very late into the off season by the cowboys and remains unsigned. That in itself is very telling because you have to wonder if Dez had an undisclosed (wait for it) ‘Off the field issue” He appeared to be a fit for many teams and visited with the Ravens and Browns but remains unemployed. Tom Brady is throwing to a group of lawyers in New England and Aaron Rodgers has the Marx brothers but they continue to have little interest in him. Why is it that a team won’t even take a flyer on him?

Dez is 30 years old now so he is not ancient for a wide out. Receivers play at a high level well into their 30’s as evidenced by Chris Carter, Aakin Skywalker Bolden and Larry Fitzgerald. Jerry Rice played until he was 68 years old just a couple years ago and could probably still make a team if he tried. Could it be that NFL franchises are tired of the diva act? Odell Beckham may want to pay close attention here. Perhaps teams are getting tired of the distractions caused by some of these players and are just moving on.

The great Jerry Glanville once was caught on film telling his rookie offensive lineman “You know what the NFL stands for? Not For Long”!! That phrase applies to not only players but Coaches as well and it’s obvious many head coaches are on the hot seat and don’t want any distractions either on or off the field. Whether it’s kneeling for the anthem or throwing a temper tantrum on the sideline because you didn’t get enough targets. When you are young and a phenomenal athlete like OBJ or T.O. or even Chad Ochocinco, Coaches will bite their lip. But once you lose a step it’s a whole different story. T.O. lost about 4 years worth of annual salary that could have gone toward making child support payments to his roughly 23 kids out of wedlock. Ok, I exaggerated, he only has 4 kids by 4 different women so it’s not like he was irresponsible or anything like that. The sad truth is he easily could have been a 3rd or 4th receiver on a team and made a living but was such a headache teams looked the other way. We believe Dez Bryant is a victim of his own antics over the last 7 years. There is no way on earth you can convince me Dez would not be the best receiver on at least 10 teams in this league, including the Pats and Packers. But the problem becomes the distraction of him not getting the ball thrown his way and criticizing play calling, the QB and the Coach. His agent has been telling the press that he has turned down multiple offers but I am not buying this bull spit. This has long been a ploy of Coaches who make a public statement “I am not interested in coaching the Houston Texans at this time” while hoping another team will reach out to them. While there is obvious evidence that clearly showed Kaepernick was in decline and a back up at best, Dez Bryant can still ball but his mouth and antics have many coaches thinking: Not For Long if this blows up in my face or my rookie QB is rattled by him. It is a shame and there might be an outside shot that an injury could force a team in contention to give it a try, but right now it looks like his career is done because of his own doing. This appears to be a growing trend in the NFL and recent trade of All-Pro Kahlil Mack by the Oakland Raiders might be evidence that teams and Coaches are trying to get control of their teams again.

-BSB