By Locking Up Dez Bryant, Cowboys Extend Championship Window

In an era where offense trumps defense and passing trumps running, the Dallas Cowboys appear to have the ideal ingredients for Super Bowl success.

Dallas has a Pro Bowl quarterback coming off a season in which he was the highest-rated passer in football, three Pro Bowl offensive linemen on the right side of age 25, a potential future Hall of Famer at tight end and an All-Pro wide receiver coming off his third consecutive season with at least 85 receptions, 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns.

But Tony Romo is 35 years old, Jason Witten is 33, reigning Offensive Player of the Year DeMarco Murray is no longer in the backfield and offensive linemen don't win Super Bowls without quality weapons to support.

That's why the key to both sustaining the above recipe and extending that competitive window is in fact the All-Pro receiver, Dez Bryant.

By securing the 26-year-old long term with what ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported is a five-year, $70 million contract with $45 million guaranteed, Jerry Jones and Co. have taken the most important step toward ensuring continued competitiveness since the franchise re-signed Romo two summers ago.

A dominant player like Bryant makes everyone around him better, which is why the Cowboys have to capitalize on his prime years.

Had they low-balled him this offseason and forced him to play under the franchise tag, they'd have risked losing him with a higher price tag and damaged relationship looming in 2016.

If that had happened, they'd have been left with a group of uninspiring receivers and a beyond-his-prime tight end to support an aging quarterback. In other words, the championship window would have closed the moment Bryant walked.

Bryant has scored 50 touchdowns in the last four seasons, seven more than the next-closest receiver on the list, Jordy Nelson, during that span. Only running back Marshawn Lynch has scored more.

Moreover, Bryant and Demaryius Thomas are the only players in the game who have gone over 1,200 receiving yards in each of the last three seasons.

Receiver	Total
Dez Bryant	3
Odell Beckham	1
Antonio Brown	1
Randall Cobb	1
Jimmy Graham	1
Calvin Johnson	1
Brandon Marshall	1
Jordy Nelson	1
Demaryius Thomas	1

With numbers like those and his famous physical traits—ESPN's Sport Science likened his catch speed to that of a record gun draw—Bryant has the ability to extend Romo's shelf life, lengthen Witten's career and take an immense amount of pressure off the committee backfield that will be replacing Murray.

As a bonus, the Cowboys look as though they've avoided crippling themselves financially in upcoming offseasons.

Yahoo Sports' Rand Getlin reported Bryant wanted Calvin Johnson money, but that never should have been a possibility when you consider Johnson has statistically taken a step back during the first two seasons of the seven-year, $113.5 million extension he signed in 2012.

At that point, Johnson, also 26, was coming off a better season on paper than any Bryant has had.

We don't have a full breakdown of the deal just yet, but if Bryant receives the $20 million signing bonus  ESPN's Todd Archer has reported, there should be plenty of wiggle room on this contract. Pro Football Talk also reports most of the guaranteed money comes quickly.

If things are going well early, Dallas would happily pay Bryant a lower average annual salary than he would have made with even two consecutive franchise tenders. And if trouble arises—a legitimate fear when Bryant's behavior was an area of concern earlier in his career—the Cowboys would likely be able to get out of the deal without taking too much of a hit beyond 2017 or 2018.

Are the Cowboys still taking a chance? Of course. Bryant's production could drop off. Not necessarily because he'll become too comfortable with his newfound riches, but because that sometimes happens.

He might have peaked early, he might encounter injuries or he might even find trouble off the field.

Those are all risks associated with employing superstar players for exorbitant amounts of money. But when weighing those risks against the potential rewards, this was a no-brainer decision for the Cowboys.

They waited until the eleventh hour and caved on some cash—as did Bryant—because this is a business and that's common practice. However, both sides ultimately realized a pact like this represented the best way for both Bryant and the Cowboys to prosper for as long as possible.

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon