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Dez Bryant: The Survivor | Rolling Stone
So why, sitting across from me at a plush hotel in Dallas, is he cartwheeling between outrage and wracking sobs, vowing to "show those motherfuckers who did me dirty"? Why is he so wounded by the bargaining machinations of reptilian Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who had refused to make him a five-year offer at the going rate for franchise wide receivers? And why is he spitting fire at the man who gave him refuge after he'd been booted out of Oklahoma State football in 2009, calling David Wells, a black businessman in Dallas and a longtime trusted proxy of the Cowboys, a "thief and a liar" who Bryant says ripped him off?
The answer is, it's football, which is as brutal off the field as anything you've ever seen on Sunday. Betrayal, race politics and a purported Walmart tape that may or may not depict a lurid crime: This one's the Super Bowl of player/owner battles, a midnight game of chicken between two bent-for-leather drivers, with the Cowboys' season hanging on the brink.
Much more at link. Dez's journey.The days ticked down to the contract deadline in July; both sides dug in and didn't budge. The Cowboys, who'd made Bryant a specious offer — nine years, $90 million, only $12 million guaranteed; by comparison, the Detroit Lions gave Calvin Johnson $113 million, the first $53 million guaranteed — and dared Bryant to cave, betting that he was broke or very near it. Meanwhile, Bryant vowed to hold out into the season and sell off what he owned, if need be. "I came from nothing and got no problem going back there," he says. "Mr. Jones thinks he knows me, but he don't know shit."