Come On, Dez!

This offseason has been excruciating to deal with. I am so disappointed in both the players and the owners right now that it makes it difficult to get excited about the draft. I know how I am hoping the Cowboys will prioritize the draft. But everything is moving so slowly right now that it is difficult to find much to write about let alone get excited about. I've taken a break for a few weeks from my roster analysis because there isn't much to talk about. But the Dez Bryant news has really become too much to ignore.

Dez is 22 years old and his maturity level seems to be on par with a 14 year old. I was really trying to give him the benefit of the doubt when the whole sagging pants incident went down. But then the stories starting coming out about other problems that have been swept under the rug until now. Cutting in line at the Apple store and getting kicked out of a restaurant due to a loud fight inside the restaurant with a girlfriend are just two of those stories. At that point I really started to wonder if I had read Dez wrong when I saw him deal with the media in such a respectful manner last season.

But then the lawsuits for unpaid bills started. And we aren't talking about a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid jewelry bills. I know it is Dez's money and he can do what he wants with it. But we are talking about nearly a million dollars in jewelry. Does he have any idea how quickly the money faucet can turn off for him? A football player is always one play away from the end of their career. Someone needs to remind him of that. I know he is young and thinks he has it all figured out. But he needs help before he ends up bankrupt before his career even ends.

I can actually let the unpaid bill issues go because if Dez is dumb enough to go broke so quickly that is his right. But the behavior in the public eye in unacceptable. Dez seems to have the belief that the rules of society don't apply to him. The cutting in line is ridiculous to me. Doesn't he realize that he is a big star now? Half of the people in that line were probably Cowboys fans. I'll bet he lost a few fans when he decided he was more important than the other people patiently waiting their turn.

I really didn't think that anyone could be more immature than Martellus Bennett a couple of years ago. But Dez is taking immaturity to a whole new level. He needs to get his head screwed on straight before it is too late. And, more importantly, Dez needs to remember that he represents the Dallas Cowboys at all times. People are looking for a reason to bring him down. The worst thing Dez can do is give all of those people ammunition to get him.

I have lost a great deal of respect for Dez as a person. As a player, I know he is unbelievably talented. I just hope that the recent string of incidents will serve as a wake up call that it is time to grow up. I want to be a Dez Bryant fan. But he has to earn the right to be a fan favorite by being a great player AND a great person. Fortunately Dez is young and it isn't too late to turn things around. I really hope he becomes the person we all want him to be.