If Dez Bryant continues to play the waiting game, keep close tabs on two teams to potentially scoop him up – either the New England Patriots or Dallas Cowboys (seriously).
The Patriots are the quintessential “one man’s trash is another’s treasure” team in the NFL having picked up Danny Woodhead in the month of September back in 2010 after he was released by the Jets, and they signed LeGarrette Blount after he was released by Pittsburgh midway through the 2014 season. More recently, they scooped up tight end Martellus Bennett off of waivers last November. The Pats absolutely thrive in the waiting game when it comes to free agency. While most NFL teams take part in the March frenzy when free agency opens, the Patriots routinely go the other way and pounce on players when other teams have already used their allotted cap space.
Of course, Bryant will command a much heftier salary than Woodhead, Blount or Bennett did. And it remains to be seen if the Patriots are willing to dish out that kind of salary.
Two recent developments have sparked up Dez to the Patriots rumors again – and that’s the suspension of Julian Edelman and the trade buzz surrounding Tom Brady’s top target last year – Rob Gronkowski. Brady is reportedly in no mood to work with C-level talent in the passing game anymore, and if the Patriots actually went through with it and traded Gronk – Brady would likely retire unless he was assured immediate A-list help (or something close to it) was on the way.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported earlier this month that Bryant is content on waiting for “the perfect fit, a winning organization and a team willing to do a one-year, prove it deal.” That sounds a whole lot like the Patriots, who did a wink-wink two-year (that was actually a one-year) deal with Darrelle Revis several years back.
One other theory gaining steam is that Bryant is waiting so long so that the Cowboys realize the mistake they made in releasing him when they get a look at what Dak Prescott is actually throwing to in training camp this July.
One of the whackiest theories out there is that Cowboys scouting director Will McClay blasted Dez in the media in order to motivate him, and that there’s a reason Jerry Jones wasn’t the one doing the blasting. Dez never has to deal with McClay, so the Cowboys felt there was no harm in McClay shredding Bryant’s skills.
