Deal Junkies Eyeing Dez-line Day
By Cory Mageors | @inthemageors
The hottest topic of the Dallas Cowboys offseason, despite Greg Hardy and the impossible three 1st round talents with one pick, has definitely been Dez Bryant's contract negotiation.
Between a "damning video" and his uniquely vague posts on Twitter, the story's had legs almost on a weekly basis.
I wonder what Michael Irvin would have posted on Twitter back in the day when leveraging for more money. Would it have been similar? Would there have been as much division or intrigue?
So here we sit, almost two days away from the Dez-Line.
Neither side is going to budge until the clock tells them they have to.
But the big question is -- who will budge first?
The way I see it there are four different groups involved in the negotiation, despite what you hear.
Group 1 – Dez's Representatives – trying to get money for Dez
Group 2 – Stephen Jones – trying to save money for Cowboys and trusted by Jerry to make this deal happen
Group 3 – Dez Bryant – wants to play football and be paid
Group 4 – Jerry Jones – wants legacy, wins, fans happiness and will ultimately close
That's the order in which I think those involved might pick up the phone first. But whom I think is going to be the most important factor is Bryant himself.
If you listened to The K&C Masterpiece last week, you heard Bryan Broaddus spilling Cowboys knowledge all over the place. One of the key elements to this negotiation for him was that he thinks Bryant will have to get on the horn and sit down at the table in order for this thing to become official.
Let's take a little look at how this has and will work out.
Group 1-- Dez's agency and Group 2 -- Stephen Jones have an idea of what they want. As stated above, you can't fault Dez's agency for trying to get the most money they can out of the Cowboys. That's what they were hired to do and that helps keep emotional highs and lows out of the picture, hopefully by providing a buffer.
You also can't fault Stephen Jones for trying to save the Cowboys money and keep the order of their cap future in mind. This team has thrown money about before and suffered because of it. Stephen is simply doing the prudent thing and working with an engineer's mind. This time, just an engineer of money and cap space.
Both sides put their number out there, and to be quite honest, have used every tool of posturing at their disposal.
They aren't quite at the same number as far as guaranteed money and that's where the standoff has taken place.
But Mike Fisher is right in regards to the Jones family -- they will roll up their sleeves on deadline day. And that's why they are comfortable.
Broaddus and Frank Provenzano, former asst. GM for the Dallas Stars, have agreed that the term Deal Junkies is a great way to describe the Jones'.
A deal junkie is somebody who loves the hunt, loves the close, the adrenaline that comes with finishing off the deal. The back and forth negotiations, all of the knowledge that has come with the research and due diligence can be thrown on the table at deadline and now, who is going to say "I give."
Broaddus said he thinks Group 3 -- Dez will be the one to concede first.
After Stephen and Dez's reps get together and start to battle it out, it will ultimately be up to Dez to say, "I will accept this number." It might not be the number his agency was trying to get him, but it's the number he is willing to place his future on. Look Dez loves football, and all he wants to do is train and win. But the financial implications of his future are very important to him. So he's willing to let some of the best agents in the business wheel and deal for him until the number gets close enough for him to say okay.
Then there is the issue of stubbornness.
What if Dez's people are like Reggie in Ballers?
What if they say, "This is the number we want and since they won't offer it, we'll have to find somebody who will in free agency in the future."
Well, in that case, Group 4 steps in. Jerry Jones has had a tendency to get emotionally attached to players, which means it was smart on his part to step out of this and let Stephen be the unemotional numbers guy. Jerry also has ultimate veto power over everything.
Ultimately we would like Jerry to never enter the picture. We don't want him to have to say anything because that means Dez conceded before Jerry had to get involved and we can now turn our attention to football.
However, if Jerry does enter the picture, remember he's a Deal Junkie. He's a closer. He loves the high that comes with the dramatic entrance, pauses and face-to-face conversations. He's a super personal person.
He'll walk in, turn his chair backwards, lean into Dez and ask him "What do we need to do to get this deal done?" And while looking him right in the eye, all groups will have put everything they had on the table.
The order is formatted, it's there and it's simple negotiation.
And just like Provenzano predicted on The Masterpiece months ago, it will come down to the 11th hour or 2:59 pm Central Time July 15th. Just as Fisher has said on a number of occasions, quoting Jerry "Deadlines make deals."
So here we go, final days of Dez-line, the waiting is almost over, the numbers will be out and the football fans can get off the edge of their seats and turn out attention to lining up opponents on paper and planning out a Super Bowl Parade route.
The wait is almost too much.
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