Dez Bryant 'No Longer a Fan' of Brett Favre After Deshaun Watson Comments

Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Dez Bryant said he is no longer a fan of ex-NFL quarterback Brett Favre after the Pro Football Hall of Famer reacted negatively toward Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson's trade request.

Favre spoke with Minty Bets of Yahoo Sportsbook on the matter Monday:

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Jan. 28 that Watson had requested a trade "weeks ago."

Watson's agent, David Mulugheta, also offered his response:

Chris Franklin of NJ Advance Media explained Favre's hypocrisy:

"Of course, the irony here is that Favre forced his way out of Green Bay, briefly retiring in 2008 to compel the Packers to get rid of him. Green Bay traded Favre to the New York Jets for one completely forgettable season. The following year, Favre left the Jets for the Minnesota Vikings for his final two years in the NFL."

Favre's view ignores the fact that the Texans backed Watson into a corner after a series of puzzling decisions that put Houston in a spot where it somehow finished 4-12 in 2020 despite having one of the NFL's best quarterbacks.

The Texans organization has been criticized for the power it has handed over to Jack Easterby, who serves as the team's executive vice president of football operations despite spending the first eight years of his NFL career (2011-2018) in character coaching and development.

Jenny Vrentas and Greg Bishop of Sports Illustrated have written about Easterby at length over the past few months, detailing a remarkable rise to power and the chaos that has reportedly followed.

"Two years after his arrival in Houston, those inside the Texans' building describe an atmosphere of mistrust, a state of constant chaos and a sense that he isn't fit for the roles he's taken on," the duo wrote.

Houston has since hired a new general manager in Nick Caserio (who worked with Easterby on the New England Patriots from 2013-2018) and a head coach in David Culley, but Easterby has continued to exert his influence, per Lance Zierlein of NFL.com.

In addition, Watson was consulted on the head coach and GM hires, but the team did not pick anyone the quarterback recommended:

Vrentas and Bishop discussed that in more detail:

"While on vacation Watson learned, according to the two sources, the franchise that said it wanted his perspective had not yet asked to interview Bieniemy (they would, on Jan. 12, two days after the initial interview window for Bieniemy had closed, and only after the firestorm that followed the Caserio twist in the franchise's ongoing saga).

"Watson was further upset by the press conference that McNair held with Caserio, in which the owner said he had read reports that Watson was unhappy but noted he had met with Watson several times and 'understood his point of view before meeting with candidates.' Watson found this response, according to another of the sources close to him, to be 'patronizing.'"

The quarterback also said in a press conference following the season's end that there was "no real foundation" for the franchise.

All of this is in addition to the fact that the Texans traded one of the league's best offensive weapons in No. 1 wideout DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals during the 2020 offseason.

Hopkins and Watson had a great rapport, with the wideout catching 104 passes for 1,165 yards and seven touchdowns in 2019.

Although Watson dominated in 2020, the Texans did not as they went from a divisional-round participant to a four-win team in the span of one year. Head coach and general manager Bill O'Brien was fired after an 0-4 start.

In sum, Watson is more than justified for wanting out of Houston, even if he did ink a four-year, $156 million contract extension last offseason.

He's given everything he can to the organization, which hasn't matched his effort in return to build a winning program.