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After all of posturing, after all of the tweets, and after all of the public threats to skip regular season games, including the season opener against the New York Giants, ultimately it will be Dez Bryant’s competitive nature that will do him in. Negotiating a contract is similar to playing the game of poker. Whoever has the best poker face and doesn’t give away the quality of their hand wins. Well this week by showing up to the last day of minicamp, Bryant revealed that the Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys hold all of the cards.
I truly believe that Bryant and the Cowboys will get a long-term deal done before the July 15th deadline arrives, so that’s not really an issue. What will ultimately be the issue is how much guaranteed money Bryant winds up getting. The Cowboys have the advantage of slapping the franchise tag on him for two straight years if they want, so there really is no pressure for them to get a deal done this year if it’s not to their liking.
The only leverage Bryant did have was showing the Cowboys how much they would miss him if he refused to play. Well based on the fact that he showed up to the OTAs and this week’s minicamp, it’s a clear indicator that he has too much love for the game and too much love for his teammates to have them struggle without him.
No one is as big of a competitor as Bryant is and no one practices as hard as he does; and it’s obvious that staying away from the game is killing him inside. If the only thing he cared about was money, then he would have completely ignored head coach Jason Garrett’s request to be there for his final address to the team today. And the fact that the team’s second wide receiver Terrance Williams went down with an injured elbow today only magnifies the team’s need for him.
Jerry Jones is a master at keeping the players’ loyalty during these negotiations and you can be certain that Dez Bryant will be suited up and ready to play in this year’s opening game.
Kelly Anderson is a blogger for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bgipp01 or add him to your network on Google.
