Jerry Jones traded up in the draft to get rookie wideout Dez Bryant. It was one of those war room deals that makes Jerry get all fist-pumpy and high-fivey. So you can imagine it would greatly dismay the Double J to know his prized rookie will now miss training camp with the dreaded high ankle sprain, an injury Jones now thinks could have been prevented:
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones thinks Dez Bryant might have been tired after heavy camp work, which could have led to Bryant suffering a high ankle sprain in practice on Friday…
"The key thing is you ask yourself, 'Are we pushing him too hard; does it happen at the end of practice when the players are tired?' ... You generally are more prone to injury when you're tired. I just spoke with Dez. He's upset, worrying about how many preseason games he'll miss. He's really worked hard for us."
Please note that Bryant had been in training camp for a whopping ONE week before suffering this injury. But yes, perhaps Dez was working too hard. Maybe the infamous taskmaster that is Wade Phillips was wrong to let the players use the Slip n Slide. Maybe Dez shouldn’t be forced to carry around Roy Williams’ shoulder pads, which are made of very light plastic and could actually be carried by small robin of some kind. Perhaps Dez shouldn’t have to practice at all! It might be best for the team if this prized young man is allowed to sit on the sidelines and eat Dove chocolates for the rest of camp.
Wade Phillips was asked to reply to Jerry’s comments. This is what he said to David Moore at the DMN:
”I mean, that injury was a guy falling on him. It wasn't because he was tired. The ball was thrown behind him.
"Now, if the ball had been thrown in front of him and he was too tired to go get it..."
In other words, it’s camp. Players get injured. But Bryant is one of the Double J’s prize stars, and so Jerry is going to do what he can to make sure Bryant is taken care of, so he can go out and put up big numbers and make Jerry look smart for trading up to get him. That means questioning Bryant’s workload, even when camp is young and the Cowboys run a relatively light schedule. This could potentially lead Bryant to think the rules don’t apply to him, which makes sense given that he spent his entire senior year paying for thinking the rules didn’t apply to him. Not a good sign.
Perhaps he could learn to practice while encased in some kind of iron lung.
