Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)
ARLINGTON — If the Dallas Cowboys are concerned about Dez Bryant’s off-the-field conduct, they weren’t showing signs of it when his contract was the topic of discussion on Tuesday.
“What we want to do is have an agreement for the rest of Dez’s career,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. “To me, that says a lot about the concern about off-the-field [issues] if we want him on the Dallas Cowboys for the rest of his career.
“I’m real impressed with how he’s evolved over the last several years, or we wouldn’t be in serious contract negotiations with him. So I think all of that is where it really is, and I do look for us to get something done with Dez.”
On Sunday, NFL.com reported that the Cowboys are still concerned about Bryant’s off-the-field behavior.
Bryant is in the final year of his rookie contract.
“We’ve offered him some really nice contracts,” Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones said. “We also have to respect his views on where it is. My take on those things is that they ultimately find a way.
“I have a lot of confidence we will. I think Dez wants to be here and I know we want him here.”
Bryant recently parted ways with agent Eugene Parker and joined Jay Z’s Roc Nation management team. Stephen Jones said the Cowboys are comfortable with the switch because they’ve worked on previous deals with Tom Condon, the long-time NFL agent who is now representing Bryant in contract talks.
“Obviously it takes everybody,” Jerry Jones said. “Everybody has to be in agreement and that doesn’t mean it’s not happening. What it does mean is everybody that has really followed Dez’s career, followed his life, they’re proud of him right now, and I’m proud of him right now. If anybody would be, I would be. It’s like a daddy feeling to me really. So I’m proud of all of that.
“But it’s got to fit. It has to really fit our team. One thing about it, everyone knows this: I spend all the money. I spend all the money and I’m as imaginative spending it as you’re allowed to spend in the NFL. So what one player gets another one doesn’t. We have the job of putting it in place so that everybody can play on a team that is competitive and in the long run, that’s in the best interest of the player.
“Now that sounds like I’m negotiating with you, and I’m not trying to, but that’s my job and that’s why we get in here and Stephen leads that area and that’s why we really have to make this all fit so that we can have the kind and the best players that we can have.”