Why Fans Shouldn't Be Mad At Dez Bryant

It took less than a week for Dez Bryant to make headlines in his battle with Roy Williams.

Yesterday, after the Cowboys camp session, Roy Williams dropped his pads next to Dez Bryant so he could take them into the locker room. However, Bryant had other ideas, as he decided not to take them inside.

"I'm not doing it," Bryant said. "I feel like I was drafted to play football, not carry another player's pads."

"If I was a free agent, it would still be the same thing," Bryant continued. "I just feel like I'm here to play football. I'm here to try to help win a championship, not carry someone's pads. I'm saying that out of no disrespect to [anyone]."

Bryant has disrespected a camp ritual that was started decades ago and Williams isn't happy about it. 

"Everybody has to go through it," Williams said. "I had to go through it. No matter if you're a No. 1 pick or the 7,000th pick, you've still got to do something when you're a rookie.

"I carried pads. I paid for dinners. I paid for lunches.," he went on. "I did everything I was supposed to do, because I didn't want to be that guy."

Now, while this is somewhat a violation of unwritten camp rules, you shouldn't be mad at Dez Bryant for this, and here's why. 

First of all, Bryant has the best of intentions when it comes to the team this season. In his statement he said that he's in Dallas to help the Cowboys win a championship. He never talked about himself, as far as the team was concerned. He also said, "We have a goal here. It's not about playing games. It's all about just trying to do the right thing and achieve our goal."

It's obvious that Bryant has his head on straight as far as what he wants to do in Dallas, which was evident when he took less money to get on the field at the beginning of camp. 

Another reason not to be mad at Bryant is simple; Williams is his competition. We all know that this is Williams' last chance with the Cowboys and Bryant is expected to take over the No. 2 receiver slot when Williams' contract runs out. 

So why would Bryant lower himself when the reason he was drafted was to take over for Williams, who's done absolutely nothing during his time in Dallas except make excuses and drop passes?

Speaking of Williams, what has he done exactly to deserve this luxury treatment in Dallas? This is a guy who single-handedly lost the game in Green Bay, was basically ignored during the second half of the game against the Saints, and even in the wild card playoff game against the Eagles he disappeared once the Eagles defense actually started covering him. 

Williams was booed yesterday when he dropped a pass, but Miles Austin and Bryant also dropped passes during drills and received no such treatment, showing that even the fans are impatient with Williams. 

Bryant is young and he will make mistakes, but his talent and his dedication to the team is unquestioned, so let's cut him some slack. The Cowboys will still tie him to the goalpost and he'll still have to sing his fight song. He's just not bowing to the guy whose job he's going to take next season, and as far as I'm concerned that's not a big deal. 

In other news, Martellus Bennett, who sprained his ankle a few days before training camp, should be back in action next week. "I feel a lot better," Bennett said in workout clothes after watching the morning practice. "I was walking with a limp at first, but I feel a lot better about it." 

Bennett  tweaked his ankle while catching jump balls last week before training camp started and will be activated from the non-injury football list once he's cleared to practice next week.