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When it comes to player personnel . . .
. . . comments to the media an NFL organization needs speak with one voice. In other words, they need to be singing from the same song sheet. You need to say the same things in public about something and appear to agree.
A recent situation in Dallas comes to mind.
When the Dallas Cowboys released star receiver Dez Bryant on April 13, team owner Jerry Jones took the high road.
“As an organization we hold Dez Bryant in the highest regard, and we are grateful for his passion, spirit and contributions to this team for the past eight years. He will always be a valued member of our family,” Jones said in a statement.
“Dez and I share a personal and professional relationship that is very strong, and he is one of just a handful of players with whom I have become that close to over the past 30 years. This was not an easy decision. It was made based upon doing what we believe is in the best interest of the Dallas Cowboys. 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.”
The team’s coach Jason Garrett also took the high road, even though Bryant blamed certain players he called “Garrett Guys” for his release.
“Dez Bryant has been a great player for this franchise during his time here,” Garrett said, “Certainly a playmaker, a difference-maker. A guy that we all love. Love him as a player, as a person and that will never change.
“It’s a challenging situation. A lot of different factors go into these kinds of decisions and again the guidepost for all of this is: What’s in the best interest of the Dallas Cowboys? And that’s why we made this decision. Wish Dez nothing but the best going forward. He’s a special guy. I love him. I will always love him and the impact that he’s made on this franchise has been significant.”
But last week, the team’s college scouting director opened Pandora’s Box, and told the world why Bryant was released.
“The (inability) to win one-on-one, to win down field,” Will McClay said on ESPN 103.3 in Dallas.
So in other words, Bryant doesn’t run well anymore.
But did he ever?
When Bryant came out of Oklahoma State in 2010, he ran the forty-yard dash in 4.52 seconds. For the uninitiated, that isn’t a great wide receiver time.
Bryant’s game has never been about speed, it’s been about the quarterback throwing up the ball, even in tight quarters, and the receiver doing a great job of “climbing the ladder,” as scouts say, and making the catch.
Former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo did a great job of taking advantage of Bryant’s skillset, and from 2012-2014, the QB and WR were a dynamic tandem, with Bryant hauling in 273 passes and 41 touchdowns.
In 2015, Romo got hurt, hardly played in 2015-16, and then retired before the 2017 season.
And over the last three years, without Romo aside from five games, Bryant’s production slipped.
Prescott also isn’t as accurate as Romo, and doesn’t see the field as well.
So maybe Bryant doesn’t run as well as he used to.
But the quarterback change in Dallas didn’t helped his cause either.
But the reason I bring this up in this space is that Christopher Johnson’s comments about Sam Darnold, which were well-intentioned, probably didn’t jibe with the position of his personnel department and coaches.
Darnold has a lot to work on – Mike Maccagnan knows that, Todd Bowles knows that and Jeremy Bates knows that.
So it’s not helpful to them to say about the 20-year-old Darnold, “I honestly think (people) are going to look back 20 years from now and say this is the moment the Jets shifted into a new gear — that they became a new team,” he told reporters.”
Once again, when it comes to players personnel comments, the Jets brass all need to sing from the same song sheet. Bowles and Maccagnan didn’t say anything close to what Johnson said about Darnold.
May 10, 2018
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