Cowboys are cutting Dez Bryant, bringing the Tony Romo ‘What-If’ era to an end
By Josh Hill
The Dez Bryant era has come to an end for the Dallas Cowboys, who are cutting the former Pro Bowl receiver.
When Tony Romo retired last season, we were all left with the ‘What-If’ of how his legacy might have been different if he had stayed healthy. A branch on that tree of mystery extends to Dex Bryant and his legacy; what would he be now if a healthy Romo had been throwing to him his whole career. How would we be remembering his legacy as a Cowboy?
That’s a question we’ll never have the answer to. A more pressing question for Bryant is where he’ll play next, as the Dallas Cowboys are expected to release their Pro Bowl wide receiver thus bringing to a close an era in the franchise’s history marred with ‘almosts’ and near-misses.
Cowboys expected to release WR Dez Bryant today, barring an unexpected last-minute change of heart, per @toddarcher and me. But the plan going into meeting that is now underway was to part ways with Bryant.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 13, 2018
It’s a move that has been a long time coming, but one that likely wasn’t easy. Dallas could have moved on from Bryant at the start of free agency but elected to wait it out and see what happened. The Cowboys signed Allen Hurns after the Jaguars released him (in similarly late fashion to the Bryant move), which seemed to signal the writing was on the wall.
Truthfully, the writing has been there for a while. Bryant’s numbers haven’t been what they used to be, something that could be attributed to the decline and retirement of Tony Romo. His release comes in an offseason where Richard Sherman — another vocal yet tremendously successful franchise player — was released as well.
An era in the NFL, not just in Dallas, is coming to an end.
Bryant will be remembered as a Cowboy Great, but he’ll also be the face of the era’s heartbreak. Whether it was his rambunctious outbursts on the sidelines, or the infamous catch-no catch in Green Bay.
His lasting legacy in Dallas will be whenever his name is brought up, someone will go ‘It was a catch’, thus sparking a trip down memory lane. That’s both wholly fitting and a little unfair, but will be a pretty good place to start when remembering Dez’s time in Dallas.