Report: Dez’s Cowboy deal not all it appears

An article published on BleacherReport.com calls Dallas Cowboy wide receiver Dez Bryant’s new contract “one of the great illusions in sports history.”

It’s been widely reported that Bryant will earn $70 million over five years, with $45 million guaranteed.

Less well known: the deal is said to be frontloaded, paying nearly all the guaranteed money within the first three years of the five year deal, while signing bonus money is delayed, some of it until after a full season has been played.

Bryant is among the NFL’s elite wide receivers, but has been plagued by personal conduct issues, including an arrest for allegedly assaulting his mother, rumors of financial mismanagement, and a high number of police responses to his home.

“What the Cowboys did is brilliant,” the article quotes a source familiar with the contract as saying. “They gave Dez an extra [$3.2 million] to get the long-term deal now and make him show up. But if something goes wrong and he defaults on the contract, they still have it. They don’t have to go after him. He has to go after them, and that’s a lot harder to do if you have other legal problems.”

You can read the entire article here: http://ble.ac/1exH9HG