Dez Bryant was released by the Cowboys Friday. The team felt he wasn’t worth his contract and saved $8 million by cutting him this offseason.
Now, for the first time in his career, the eight-year veteran receiver is looking for a home. His home should be moved 250 miles south down I-45.
Bryant played all 16 games last season, totaling 838 yards and six touchdowns. It was a far cry from his career-highs of 16 TDs and 1,320 yards in 2014, but Bryant is still a top-tier receiver in the league. He should be snatched up in the next couple of days. Brian Gaine needs to continue his trend of aggressive moves and give Bryant’s agent a call.
Houston currently ranks sixth in the NFL with $32.2 million in cap space available. The team still has money to spend even after the signings of Tyrann Mathieu and Zach Fulton that cost $7 million a year. Bryant signed a 5-year, $70 million contract with the Cowboys in 2015, and with Jarvis Landry signing a 5-year, $75 million contract with the Browns yesterday, Bryant’s market should be somewhere in the neighborhood of $12-15 million per season.
The length of a deal for Bryant would probably be similar to Mathieu’s single-year deal. It would be shocking if Bryant signed a contract for longer than two-years. He turns 30 in November and is coming off a down year. Hitting the market this late in the offseason will also hurt the shelf life of a prospective deal.
The one thing that probably hurts the Texans as a potential destination for Dez is the fact that he wouldn’t be a No. 1 receiver in Houston. That title deservedly belongs to DeAndre Hopkins, but signing Bryant would easily give the Texans the best 1-2 wideout punch in the game.
Bryant will probably look to places like Baltimore, Carolina and San Francisco, where he could be a top option, but Houston is a dark-horse candidate despite being a WR2 here. Such a role could be an extreme benefit for his game.
If Dez were to come to Houston, he wouldn’t be double-teamed. Neither would Hopkins. If you double either guy, the other will have a chance to go one-on-one. If you double team both, Will Fuller is going to run right past the secondary for a touchdown. Adding Dez could give the Texans the deadliest receiving corps in the game, something that Deshaun Watson, an up-and-coming star, would surely appreciate.
Wide receiver is not one of the Texans’ immediate needs, but geez, adding Dez could be the one thing that breaks Houston’s offense open. It could create another dynamic that would put this team on another level. It could be the NFL’s equivalent of the Rockets adding Chris Paul next to James Harden. The Rockets had a great offense with Harden, but adding CP3 made the Rockets’ offense close to unstoppable.
Dez would fit well in Houston if he took a lighter role. The idea of being a part of an incredible offense could bring him to H-Town. But another added incentive is the fact that Bryant is a Houstonian. Well, a Galveston native to be exact, but that is considered Houston in my book. Bryant would have a chance to play even closer to home than he was before, which is very similar to what the Honey Badger did last month.
Speaking of the Honey Badger, he’d love to have Dez come to Houston and is making it clear to him that he’d be more than welcome to come here.
Come to Houston bro... @DezBryant
— Tyrann Mathieu (@Mathieu_Era) April 13, 2018
The Honey Badger isn’t the only one who wants #88 in Houston...
Dez Bryant does look good in liberty white.
That’s all I’m sayin’.