Rumors have circulated that Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones is reluctant to give wide receiver Dez Bryant a rich long-term contract due to concerns about the pass catcher's character and maturity.
The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday that three members of the Dallas staff said there is "concern" regarding Bryant's living situation, in which 10 individuals may be currently living at his house.
Negotiations between the Cowboys and Bryant's camp have not yet yielded a new contract for the star wideout who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at season's end.
"Nobody in the world knows those issues but me and maybe [executive vice president Stephen Jones], relative to the Cowboys," Jones said. "I noticed a lot of talk about 'people within the organization,' that type of thing. Nobody breathing or living, [not] any coach, anybody knows anything that would concern me or Stephen about signing him to a contract within the Cowboys organization. So anytime anybody says, quote, Cowboys sources, they don't know what they're talking about."
Jones denied any character concerns as a reason for delaying a contract extension. Instead, he posited the negotiations as business as usual.
"I told you I'm not going to get into issues regarding any contract, but nobody knows what I'm worried about," Jones said. "And I don't know that I've ever signed a contract that I didn't have things to worry about, but nobody talked about them. You can't make business decisions, especially multimillion dollar business decisions without having a nice little worry list over on the right. Everybody does. So it's wrong to say that that is an issue. That's not an issue relative to overall getting it done. We just want to get it done."
There's no question that Bryant has earned a new contract with his play on the field. He has caught 88 balls for 1,320 yards and 16 touchdowns this season. But his continued cooperation under an agreed-upon set of rules for off-field behavior will be a major factor when discussing a new deal.
