Never mind that Dez Bryant’s catch against the Packers was ruled to be not a catch. The Cowboys want him back. (Matt Ludtke / AP)
The Dallas Cowboys will place their franchise tag on wide receiver Dez Bryant on Monday, a decision that won’t thrill the wide receiver and makes the return of running back DeMarco Murray an uncertainty.
“Well, I think Dez is a special player,” Stephen Jones, the team’s chief operating officer and the son of Jerry, said Friday (via the Dallas Morning News). “Obviously, he’s someone we don’t want to lose. We will pretty much cement that by using the franchise tag. Our goal, unlike what we’ve done in the past, is to hopefully keep working and get a contract done at some point. We want to continue to find a way to get there.
“So far, that hasn’t happened.”
The team, which informed Bryant of the decision Friday, will use the tag to keep Bryant off the free-agent market when it opens in 10 days, paying him $12.5 million for the 2015 season. Talks on a long-term deal broke down during the 2014 season.
“It’s unrealistic to think [a contract] will happen now so we will use the tag,” Jones said.
If Bryant is franchised, Murray, the NFL’s leading rusher last season, will become a free agent. They’d like him back and he has said he’d like to return, but the Cowboys faced a tough choice. Behind that offensive line, perhaps another running back could do what Murray does. Replicating Bryant’s talents, even in a year in which the NFL draft offers a number of wide-receiver prospects, is another matter. And Jones was coy about whether Murray might have agreed to give the Cowboys a chance to match any offer he receives.
“I wouldn’t say there’s any agreement,” Stephen Jones said. “You hope so, but there are no guarantees. I think DeMarco wants to be in Dallas. We want him here. But we’re going to have to get our hands around what’s the best offer we can make for DeMarco and we can’t let someone dictate that for us.
“There’s an expectation that he will get back to us before he signs with another club. There’s a hope that he would. But that would be unfair to him and for other clubs to say he’s going to bring something back.
“We hope we get to visit with him. We’ll see what happens.”
After spending most of her career in traditional print sports journalism, Cindy began blogging and tweeting, first as NFL/Redskins editor, and, since August 2010, at The Early Lead. She also is the social media editor for Sports.
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