Dak Prescott breaks silence after his star WR gets traded away
The Dallas Cowboys’ decision to release Dez Bryant on Friday didn’t come as a huge surprise, particularly given the wide receiver’s big salary and falling production.
But despite his base pay of $13 million last year, among the highest salaries in the league at his position, Bryant was still the primary target of quarterback Dak Prescott.
On Saturday, Prescott broke his silence on Bryant’s release, saying he will miss his number-one target.
“It’s sad news. That’s a brother to me,” Prescott said at a women’s clinic at Episcopal Parish School in Dallas, according to ESPN.
“Put the football stuff behind you, and what he meant to me as a person, what he meant to me as a brother, it’s tough to see him go. It shows you it’s a business. All it does is motivate me and puts all this in perspective. Just got to go to work,” Prescott added.
Dak Prescott on the Cowboys releasing Dez Bryant… @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/zDB9iMfgWp
— Pat Doney (@PatDoneyNBC5) April 15, 2018
From 2012 to 2014, Bryant was one of the best receivers in the game, averaging more than 1,300 receiving yards and nearly 14 touchdowns a season. That earned him a big contract in 2015, as the Cowboys signed him to a five-year, $70 million deal with a $20 million signing bonus.
But since then, his production has dropped, with Bryant averaging just 678 receiving yards and six touchdowns over the last three seasons.
In 2017, Bryant had 69 catches for 838 yards and six receiving touchdowns. He led the team in all three of those categories, but was also among the league leaders in dropped passes.
While he may not have done enough to earn his high salary, Bryant was an important part of the offense, Prescott indicated.
“Dez is going to be a hard guy to replace,” Prescott said. “He’s a talented guy, so he’ll be missed.”
Team owner Jerry Jones released a statement Friday saying it was a team decision to release Bryant. “We arrived at this crossroad collectively with input from several voices within the organization. Ultimately we determined it was time to go in a new direction,” Jones said.
In an interview with NFL Network, though, Bryant claimed the “Garrett guys” facilitated his release, referring to head coach Jason Garrett and his unnamed “guys.”
“I’ll say this right here: I believe that ‘Garrett guys’ (are to blame). I would say that,” Bryant said. “I won’t put no names out, but they know, and I want them to know I know.”
“I’ll shoot them a text message and let them know. Little do they know is, you know, they can wear that ‘C’ all they want to, but in that locker room … they know who they communicate with. Everybody knows where the real love is at. I’m not throwing anybody under the bus, but that’s the difference between me and them.”
Bryant also said he didn’t think Jones wanted to let him go.
“Jerry Jones, he loved me to death and I loved him too,” Bryant said. “I honestly believe in my heart that this was a hard decision for him. But when it’s five, six guys at a table against one guy, you got to do it.”
“It was an unfair situation because if they wanted to get rid of me, they could have told me that,” he added. “I would have respected it.”
Prescott, meanwhile, said he has been in contact with Bryant via text.
“I mean, I’m sure he’s hearing stuff, and I’m sure he’s getting it from a lot of different ways, so I mean, I’m not going to finger-point at anybody,” Prescott said. “I’m not going to get upset for who he’s pointing at or who he thinks did this. So I mean, as I said, it’s a business, and it’s part of it.”
Prescott added that he heard the speculation this offseason that Bryant might be released, but still didn’t think it would happen. The Cowboys signed former Jaguars wide receiver Allen Hurns in late March, which indicated they might be moving on from Bryant.
“He was a great player,” Prescott said. “He did a lot of great things for us, obviously. I mean, he was a guy in man-to-man (coverage) you go to. So I mean, at this point we’ve got to figure that out with the guys we got, and I’m sure we’re going to go after guys in the draft and free agency, who knows? All I can do is continue to get better at my job and just do the best I can.”
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