Report: Jerry Jones will meet with Dez Bryant on Friday to discuss the future

It’s been a long road this offseason as we have been waiting on the Dallas Cowboys to make a decision on the future of Dez Bryant. It could be that this Friday will be an important moment in the saga as it’s being reported Jerry Jones and Dez Bryant will finally have the fateful meeting we’ve all been hearing about.

According to a source close to the G-Bag Nation on 105.3 The Fan, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will meet with Dez Bryant on Friday to discuss the receiver’s contract.

The timing couldn’t be any more important as the team will hold their first official workout on Monday.

That timing is important because if Dez participates in the offseason program and gets hurt, the Cowboys are on the hook for his contract. That is a situation they would desperately want to avoid no matter how remote.

In the interest of being complete even though most Cowboys fans know the tale by now, this all really started to gain steam when Stephen Jones made some comments about Bryant’s contract. Additionally Jones commented that Bryant’s sideline behavior might be a distraction. This is on top of Bryant having a few rough years in the production department and his chemistry with Dak Prescott under scrutiny.

Once the Cowboys made a play for Sammy Watkins in free agency, then signed Allen Hurns and Deonte Thompson, it was clear they were serious about an overhaul to their wide receiver group.

Jerry Jones stepped in and seemed to indicate that it wasn’t so bad and praised Bryant. Stephen Jones admitted that it all came down to Jerry anyway and Jerry and Dez have a very close relationship. At stake is the contract and Bryant’s future in Dallas.

Bryant is set to make $12.5 million in 2018 and has a $16.5 million cap figure. The Cowboys can release him and save $8 million (while eating $8.5 mil in dead money). They can designate him a post-June 1 cut and save $12 million and he will count $4 million against the 2019 cap.

They could also renegotiate his contract in a more club-friendly way...

It’s anybody’s guess what will happen, but it is about time the Cowboys reach a conclusion so they can move on with Dez or without him. One thing that is curious if this report turns out to be true - if the Cowboys are going to try and renegotiate his contract, it leaves precious little time before the offseason workouts begin. Maybe the Cowboys already have a decision made, or maybe they are willing to work in that gray area of trying to renegotiate while Dez is participating in the offseason program.

We’ll find out if the meeting actually takes place.