Star receivers come packed with intriguing, and sometimes thorny, personalities -- something the Dallas Cowboys know well.
With Dez Bryant facing fines for missing an MRI exam and team meetings on both Monday and Tuesday, coach Jason Garrett openly addressed the status of his banged-up pass-catcher, acknowledging that "the situation with Dez is an interesting one, a challenging one."
Bryant ultimately underwent an MRI on Wednesday, revealing a slight hairline fracture in his right knee, which he injured in Sunday night's win over the Bears. He went on to finish the game, but the Pro Bowl pass catcher won't practice Thursday after also missing Wednesday's session -- leaving his status in trouble for Sunday.
"Right after the game on Sunday night, he got some information about his knee and he suspected it was a serious injury," Garrett said. "He's a very passionate guy, like we've talked about, and he really thought he was going to get some bad news when he got the MRI on Monday. Like some of us do in life, at times, he avoided it and didn't come in to take care of his business on Monday or Tuesday. Then he came in on Wednesday and took care of that part of it (the MRI). We got the information. He suspected it was worse than the information that we got."
Garrett described Bryant as "day-by-day, week-by-week," saying the wideout's absences "all stemmed from his desire not to confront the situation he thought he had."
Bryant's behavior puts Garrett in a tough place, but the Cowboys have done a strong job of working with the wideout over the years, with the coach saying: "We have different ways to talk to Dez."
Said Garrett: "I'm not going to share too much of what I talked to Dez about over the last couple days. But Dez understands he has a responsibility to be here. He was completely well-intended. He's a very passionate person. He loves football. He loves this team. He's a driven guy. His response to this was not the right one. It was an understandable response, given his personality and everything he puts into this. He's an emotional person and didn’t handle it the right way. Now what we have to do as a team is we have to handle it the right way. We understand where he was coming from, and we address it, solve it and move on. That's how we handle things here. And that's what we've done."
Bryant later posted on Twitter his regret for delaying the MRI.
With the dramatics seemingly out of the way, the larger question is whether Bryant will suit up for Sunday's road tilt against the 49ers. NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported the team hopes there is minimal risk for Bryant to play, but also called it a "long shot" for the receiver to suit up in Week 4.
The combination of Jason Witten, Cole Beasley, Terrance Williams and rookie runner Ezekiel Elliott might be enough to seal a victory against a low-wattage Niners outfit that has given up 83 points over the past two weeks.