The Dallas Cowboys are inching ever closer to franchise-tagging star wide receiver Dez Bryant.
"Right now all things being equal, it's leaning more Dez with the franchise than it is not," Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said, per Rainer Sabin of The Dallas Morning News. "But that doesn't mean it will stay that way.
"We don't ever want to give up on a long-term deal," Jones continued. "It's something we worked on all of last year and it kind of cooled off once we got into the season. We'll continue to see what our options are and things happen quickly as you go along. Things can go along with a lot not going on, but all of a sudden it happens."
The Cowboys and Bryant were so close to a massive "Cowboy For Life" contract extension during the season that general paperwork had begun, according to a report from Scout.com.
"It was the last week of October. The Cowboys were rolling on the field ... and rolling towards a 'Cowboy For Life' contract with Dez Bryant, sources tell CowboysHQ.com. How close? The Cowboys were so near a new agreement with Bryant and then-agent Eugene Parker that we're told some of the ancillary paperwork was being drawn up inside of Valley Ranch."
Parker, of course, no longer represents Bryant, and the likelihood of a big, fat new deal appears distant.
While Bryant won't be upset with the money he would potentially make under the franchise tag - Albert Breer of NFL.com estimates the tag value for wide receivers next season will be $12.8 million - he and the team would most likely prefer a long-term deal that assures he stays in Dallas and provides him financial security, get done.
Franchising Bryant would also buy the team time to hammer out that new deal, so even if Jones and the Cowboys make that decision now, look for contract negotiations to continue.
