Dallas Cowboys: Was Receiver Dez Bryant Worth a First-Round Pick in 2010?

Among the many topics of discussion regarding what went wrong with the Dallas Cowboys in 2011 is where exactly second-year wide receiver Dez Bryant was.

You surely recall the hoopla surrounding Bryant as he came out of Oklahoma State in 2010.

Remember?

Bryant was supposed to be the next Randy Moss and, therefore, he would exorcise the ghost of Moss that still plagues Jerry Jones for passing on him in 1998 and blah, blah, blah.

But a funny thing happened in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft. Just like Moss, and for essentially the same reasons, Bryant also fell way lower than his scouting combine story and college highlight reel  would seem to justify.

And Jones took the bait this time. In fact, Jones climbed a ladder for that “Bryant Bait.”

I’ll be the first to admit that I was pretty stoked when Bryant’s name was called that Friday night. We knew by then that the Roy Williams deal wasn’t exactly going to be what we thought by that time, and also that Miles Austin might be ready to come in and play at a Pro Bowl level for years to come.

Well, things have not exactly gone as planned, take away the fact that Bryant seems just a bad newspaper headline away from being—let’s just say unavailable for awhile. I do not mean to sell Bryant short, because I believe he is a phenomenal player already. Then again, the maturity just doesn’t seem to be there yet.

Dallas Cowboys columnist Rick Gosselin pointed out on Friday that Bryant and Victor Cruz both came into the league in 2010, the former a first-round pick and the latter an undrafted free agent. Bryant is sitting at home while Cruz is in the playoffs and will play in the Pro Bowl.

Gosselin also referred to Cruz as one of the “three or four best receivers in football.” Gosselin might have been on his fifth cup of coffee at that point because Cruz is not in that class yet. Further, comparing what Cruz was able to do on a better team with a running game and a strong pass rush to Bryant’s situation really holds no merit. It does get web hits though—I get that.

Bryant just got his first offensive coordinator on Friday, for heaven’s sakes. He hasn’t even played a game with him yet.

While Gosselin’s assessment of the recent history of Bryant and Cruz makes nice water cooler talk, it does not change the fact that Bryant is superior in terms of athletic ability and also leaping ability. Bryant is just a freak and I am not going to jump ship on him at this point.

Some probably felt that Austin, also undrafted like Cruz, was headed for Jerry Rice’s records because he caught the league by surprise as a brand new starter in 2009. Let’s just say that things have slowed down some for Austin.

They’ll do the same for Cruz next year to some extent.

I guess the part that really gets me is when I go back to the selections of the first round in the 2010 NFL draft. This is when you look back and reexamine who was chosen and consider who you might have had.   

There was really nobody that jumped out at me aside from a few names that Dallas would have never reached anyway—if Bryant wasn’t going to be a Cowboy, keep in mind.

The player chosen just before Bryant with the 23rd selection was Green Bay tackle Bryan Bulaga. How might he pair with Tyron Smith now? Bulaga is playing right tackle for the defending world champions, and the Cowboys already want to move Smith to the left side.

Don’t point this out to quarterback Tony Romo or his doctors.

Know who was chosen ahead of Bulaga at the 22nd pick? Try Denver Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas. And right after Bryant at the 25th pick? Denver quarterback Tim Tebow. Those two kind of “hooked up” last week  at Denver.

So, after two seasons, was Bryant worth trading up for?

The answer is obvious: the Dallas Cowboys need a GM.