The Cowboys sever ties with their highprofile wide receiver Dez Bryant.
FRISCO — Dez Bryant never lived up to the big contract he signed with the Dallas Cowboys when he was among the best receivers in the NFL.
If the franchise leader in touchdown catches is going to find his 2014 All-Pro form again, it will be with another team.
The Cowboys released Bryant on Friday, deciding salary-cap relief and declining production from one of their biggest stars outweighed the risk of him proving them wrong by becoming a Pro Bowl player again somewhere else.
And Bryant used Twitter to make it clear that he will be trying.
“If I didn't have my edge, I've got it now,” he wrote among a flurry of tweets over two days, starting the day before a meeting, where owner and general manager Jerry Jones told him he was being released. “It's very personal.”
Bryant, 29, signed a five-year, $70 million deal after leading the NFL with 16 touchdowns in 2014. But he didn't have a 1,000-yard season in three years under the big contract and played all 16 games last season without a 100-yard day for the first time in his eight-year career.
Bryant was owed $12.5 million on each of the last two years of his deal, with a $16.5 million salary-cap hit both times. The release clears about $8.5 million in cap space.
“This was not an easy decision,” Jones said. “It was made based upon doing what we believe is in the best interest of the Dallas Cowboys. We arrived at this crossroad collectively with input from several voices within the organization.”
With 73 touchdown catches, Bryant tops a Dallas list that includes Hall of Fame receivers Bob Hayes (71) and Michael Irvin (65). Tight end Jason Witten, who is getting ready for his 16th season, has 68 career TD catches.
Kelly’s recovery going smoothly
Jim Kelly is progressing so “remarkably well” two weeks after surgery to have cancer removed from his jaw that his doctor expects the Hall of Fame quarterback to be released from the hospital soon.
“I'm very optimistic,” Mount Sinai head and neck surgeon Dr. Mark Urken said in a 20-minute video interview that was released Friday by the New York City hospital.
Although Kelly is still unable to chew, he is now being fed orally in what Urken called: “a huge milestone and a segue for him to be able to leave the hospital.”
Urken did not provide an exact timetable of when the former Bills star might be discharged and return to his home in suburban Buffalo.
Urken said he is very optimistic that Kelly will regain the same speech and eating functions as he had before undergoing the 12-hour operation. Several follow-up procedures will be required, including having dentures inserted into Kelly's upper jaw.
Kelly was required to have surgery after tests revealed a recurrence of oral cancer nearly five years after initially being diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. Kelly, 58, had been cancer-free since September 2014.
Odds and ends
Seattle signed Sebastian Janikowski in the hope that the veteran player can solve their kicking issues. Janikowski, 40, spent 17 seasons with Oakland but missed the 2017 season because of a back injury. Janikowski will join former Jacksonville kicker Jason Myers in the competition to replace Blair Walsh, who was inconsistent in his one season as the Seahawks kicker last year. … The NFL suspended free-agent quarterback Mark Sanchez for the first four games of next season for violating the league's policy against performance-enhancing substances.