Cowboys COO On Dez Bryant Extension Talks

After word broke on Sunday that Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant had signed on with Roc Nation, many wondered how his agency change would affect potential extension negotiations with the club. Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones spoke with 105.3 The Fan in Dallas earlier today and discussed that very topic, so let’s take a look at the highlights (link via Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News):

On spending to the cap:

“All we look at is the player and what we can do for that particular player in terms of our resources that we have. At the end of the day, we’re going to spend every last penny we have trying to put a championship team together. It’s not that we’re trying to save money so we can put it in our pocket.”

On how to allocate financial resources:

“Our goal and what we have to do as ownership and management is decide the best way to divide up the pie. At the end of the day, everybody is going to get all of the pie, so it’s not that we’re deciding to not pay Tony [Romo], not pay Dez, not pay DeMarco [Murray] so we can keep it. We just got to talk them into playing for the money that we feel like is fair so that we can have other good football players.”

On the possibility of using the franchise tag:

“Our goal is ultimately to put a fair contract out there. In Dez’s case, we’re going to do everything we can to put a fair contract out there for him. But that tag is out there for a reason. We certainly have it in our pocket to use. For some reason if we couldn’t come to an agreement with him then we certainly have to look at all our alternatives.”

On negotiating an equitable deal:

“He’s certainly played well enough to have financial security. He deserves that. So we have to respect where Dez and his family are coming from. At the same time, we would hope that he understands what we’re trying to do, which is a hard thing to do, decide who gets what on this team and where your financial resources are allocated.”

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