The comparisons between the two wideouts were inevitable.
Both starred at Oklahoma State. Both were considered among the best receivers in college football. And both decided to forgo their final season in school to apply to enter the NFL draft.
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So is Justin Blackmon, whom NFL.com's Bucky Brooks has rated as the top wideout in college football, Dez Bryant 2.0? In an interview with KIRO-AM, Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon said he sees similarities between Blackmon, who announced his intention to apply for entry into the draft last month, and the Cowboys wideout.
"He's a beast, isn't he?" Moon said this week, via The Dallas Morning News. "He's like Dez Bryant with all of his brain cells. He's a guy that has all those skills that Dez Bryant has, but he's not the knucklehead that Dez Bryant has turned out to be with Dallas. And a much better route runner than Dez Bryant is, but a very tremendous talent."
Bryant has 15 touchdown receptions in two NFL seasons, but he battled injuries en route to just 45 catches for 561 yards with six scores this season. Bryant also has been involved in multiple lawsuits in which he was accused of not paying for jewelry he had ordered and for failing to repay the full amount of a loan.
"I think certainly Dez is everything that we had hoped he would be as a player, and he knew and we knew that he had some off-the-field challenges that were not of substance nature, which is big-time important, but was more maturity," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said, via The Morning News. "He hasn't disappointed in terms of how we evaluate him, but he has certainly made improvement in those areas."
