Jerry Jones doesn’t think Dez Bryant was a No. 1 receiver

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones indirectly took a shot at his former wide receiver Dez Bryant.

There was a time not too long ago when wide receiver Dez Bryant was one of the faces of the Dallas Cowboys, and was widely considered to be one of the premier wideouts in the NFL.

Bryant was a first overall draft choice by the Cowboys in 2010, getting selected 24th overall. He made three Pro Bowls and was even the NFL’s receiving touchdowns leader in 2014. Bryant always played with a very competitive enthusiasm, even though for most of his career he was stuck on teams that struggled to make the postseason.

But despite all of Bryant’s contributions, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones apparently never thought he was a No. 1 receiver … even though that’s exactly what he was.

After Dallas lost to the Houston Texans on Sunday night, Jones mentioned that he would love to have a No. 1 receiver like Houston’s DeAndre Hopkins. And those words were enough for Bryant, who went through an ugly divorce with Jones and the Cowboys this past year, to take to Twitter.

But Jones, intriguingly enough, doesn’t want to give Bryant the credit that he deserves.

“First of all, you saw a true No. 1 the other night,” Jones said, via the The Dallas Morning News, referring to Hopkins. “You see Julio Jones, you see players like that. In my mind, every team doesn’t have a true No. 1 receiver. When you put it in that class, those guys that just absolutely change the ball game with where they are. And that hasn’t been our case with several years here that we’ve had a true No. 1, not a true No. 1.”

Whether or not Jones wants to admit it, he did have one of the league’s elite receivers when Bryant was wearing the blue star on his helmet. But sadly, the days of Jones and Bryant complimenting each other are long gone.