Cleveland Browns: Dez Bryant, holding on line 2
By Randy Gurzi
After suddenly releasing wide receiver Josh Gordon, should the Cleveland Browns up their offer to free agent Dez Bryant who visited during the preseason?
We all saw the song and dance between the Cleveland Browns and free agent wide receiver Dez Bryant unfold on HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks.’ The big-name receiver came to visit and made his rounds. He signed a helmet in the airport, talked to Hue Jackson and even jumped on the ‘Browns Daily‘ radio show to speak with Nathan Zegura,
In the end, he left without signing a deal. That’s not because the Browns didn’t want him though. Reports later suggested that they did offer him a deal, but that it wasn’t for the money Dez was looking for.
He’s well within his rights to hold out for what he wants and they were well within their rights to offer what they did. I mean, the Browns were fine at receiver with Jarvis Landry, Josh Gordon, an improving Rashard Higgins, and rookie Antonio Callaway.
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Suddenly though, they’re not so good there. On Saturday, the Browns announced they will move on from Gordon and are now looking thin at the position. Callaway and Higgins have upside, but the one proven commodity on the roster is now Landry.
No matter where you stand on Bryant — he is surely an emotional player who gets people talking — he’s more accomplished than what they have outside of Landry. If he was enticing to the team in August, he has to be more so now. And that may get the wheels turning on the contract offered to Bryant.
General manager John Dorsey has done a good job spending money to improve the team, but not hurting them from a salary cap standpoint. According to Over The Cap, Cleveland has more than $59 million in cap space and can really do whatever it takes to pay the man.
Will the release of Gordon prompt them to up the offer? And if so, will Bryant take it? Besides the money, Dez has made it clear he wants to play for a contender. The Browns are better, but are they seen as a contender?
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One thing is for sure — if the Browns were ever truly interested in Bryant, now is when they would show that hand. And he could look very smart for waiting it out if they did up their offer.