The Dallas Cowboys let everyone know where their priorities were this offseason when they franchise tagged Dez Bryant and elected to let DeMarco Murray leave through free agency. But now that they have placed the franchise tag on Bryant, they are working to sign him to a long-term deal.
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Bryant has yet to sign his franchise tender, and he likely will not until he has to in an effort to retain negotiating leverage against the team. The team does not foresee any problems with Bryant while the negotiations are ongoing, but that may not be a smart assumption, according to the Dallas Morning News.
The situation between Bryant and the Cowboys is not unlike the one between the Denver Broncos and Demaryius Thomas. Like Bryant, Thomas was franchise tagged by the Broncos, and he also wants a long-term deal.
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Earlier this week, Thomas declared that he will not be attending any part of the Broncos offseason program until he has a new deal in place. The same option has been on the table for Bryant, and now that he has seen a fellow superstar receiver choose that route, he may elect to do the same, particularly if it speeds the negotiations for Thomas.
Jerry Jones expects Bryant to attend the program, saying, "I'm not worried about that at all, and it's because of how much he loves the game, how much he knows that preparation, practice, all of that improves him. He's at a time in his career where he's physically still very much improving and can get better. We know that all of this offseason work helps prevent injury. He's got every incentive in the world to do that."
Jones also indicated that, while it seems to be in their best interest to get a long-term deal done with Bryant, it is not necessarily their top priority.
"Not necessarily at all,'' Jones said. "The franchise is not a two-week option, a month option, an X-option. It's a seasonal option.
"We've got a lot of time, and we have digested the impact of his being franchised, which means we count that all this year and can't spread that out over a lot of years. I don't do any figuring in our dollars available, but I don't put a complete franchise number in there. It's not imperative for him or us to get something done by the season or otherwise.''
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