Pro Bowl wideout Dez Bryant is a happy man after riding across town to Cowboys headquarters on Wednesday to ink a five-year, $70 million deal with a whopping $45 million in guarantees.
"I smiled the whole way over here -- I couldn't even say nothing but just smile and laugh, because I couldn't believe it," Bryant said, per the team's official website. "All I could just think about is that it's a dream -- a dream come true. I think the only thing that's missing is a Super Bowl."
What was missing yesterday was the money, enough to keep Bryant from signing his franchise tag in search of a long-term pact from the team that drafted him. Dez promised to skip training camp and regular-season games without a new deal, but the Cowboys never took those threats seriously, according to NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport. Bryant said Wednesday that he wasn't kidding about missing time, but also acknowledged how tough it was to be away from his teammates.
"It's the first time I've ever been in this kind of situation, and it was extremely hard," Bryant said. "It's the whole reason why I came out to OTAs. I knew I was going to hear it from my agent; I was like, 'I don't care.'"
With the contract signed, everyone involved can put their pretty spin on a summer's worth of drama in Dallas. Wednesday's deadline, though, is another reminder that the business end of the offseason is over -- and football is near. Bryant sounds ready to live up to his end of the bargain.
"Now that we've got the deal done, I can only imagine what's fixing to go down this season," Bryant said. "We're Super Bowl ready."
*The latest Around The NFL Podcast discusses recent news from around the league, including the new contracts for Dez Bryant and Demaryius Thomas. *
