Cowboys to sign WR Martavis Bryant

Despite not playing a regular-season NFL game since 2018, Martavis Bryant has secured another gig. Recently reinstated, the veteran wide receiver has a deal in place with the Cowboys, according to The Athletic NBA reporter Shams Charandia.

The Cowboys brought in Bryant for a Tuesday workout. Had the Cowboys not agreed to sign Bryant, the former Steelers draftee had a meeting arranged with the Titans. But Dallas will take a flier on the former starter, with Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz tweeting it is a practice squad deal.

While this reminds of Josh Gordon‘s 2018 return after two full seasons away, Bryant has doubled Gordon’s time away from the game. 

The NFL reinstated Bryant last week, and although he will turn 32 next month, it is certainly interesting a few teams showed immediate interest in a player after so much time off. The Lions also expressed interest in Bryant, according to Schultz.

The NFL banned Bryant indefinitely on December 14, 2018. This came for repeated violations of the league’s substance-abuse policy. The 2011 CBA featured harsher punishments for substance abuse. Partially in exchange for agreeing to move to a 17-game regular season, the NFLPA received various concessions in the 2020 CBA. One of those came in the form of leniency on the substance-abuse front. 

Still, it has been more than 3 1/2 years since that CBA’s ratification. Like Gordon, Bryant will be given another opportunity. Although Gordon relapses interfered with his comeback bid — one that eventually saw the former All-Pro’s form deteriorate — the Cowboys will see what Bryant has left.

Like Gordon, Bryant played in the again-rebooted XFL this season. Gordon fared much better, catching 38 passes for 540 yards. Bryant, meanwhile, caught 14 passes for 154 yards in eight games with the Vegas Vipers. 

The Cowboys clearly liked what they saw from the former Steelers and Raiders auxiliary pass catcher, and they will see if he can come in as a tertiary target for Dak Prescott.

Back in the 2010s, Bryant was viewed as a high-ceiling talent. The Clemson alum showcased those skills at points in Pittsburgh, totaling 14 touchdown receptions between the 2014 and ’15 seasons. Bryant added an acrobatic TD in the Steelers’ narrow wild-card win over the Bengals in 2015, posing as an intriguing Antonio Brown sidekick pre-JuJu Smith-Schuster. 

But Bryant received drug suspensions in 2015 and ’16. Bryant received a four-game suspension in August 2015 and a full-season ban in March 2016. This led to the indefinite ban two years later.