Cowboys Keeping an Eye on Bryant

Last week I wrote an article on the relationship problems for Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant and his former agent Drew Rosenhaus. Lately, Dez has had more problems than his agent to worry about. This offseason, Dez was charged with a misdemeanor for assaulting his mother. The NFL has not imposed any penalties as of now, but the Cowboys took action yesterday to ensure Bryant is on his best behavior.

The Cowboys have set off-the-field guidelines for Dez Bryant to follow. The guidelines include a midnight curfew, restriction to night clubs that the team approve, no alcohol consumption, he cannot attend strip clubs, he must attend weekly counseling sessions, and he will have full time security.

So far, Dez seems to have no issues being compliant with the new guidelines. He can't give comment because of his pending legal issue. The full time security will consist of a rotating three man team that will drive Dez to practice, games and team functions. Dez will have to pay up for the security. The Cowboys are not allowed to pay for Dez's security because it would constitute a violation of salary cap rules.

Coach Garrett believes these regulations will help Bryant and also hold him accountable for his previous actions. Jason Garrett said about the new guidelines, "We want to support our players, we want to support Dez and we want to support his family, and the same time hold him accountable to what he needs to do."

Although the Cowboys have imposed these rules, they are yet to give details on what consequences would include if the rules were broken. Dez signed a 5 year contract in 2010 worth $11.8 million, $8.63 million of that being guaranteed. He is set to earn $1.335 million in salary for the 2012 season. Although it would be difficult to imagine a way that Dez's salary could be effected currently, he should be careful for the future. If teams witness Dez's behavioral issues dating back to college, they will be less likely to give him longer term deals.

Final Thought
While I'm not in favor of putting restrictions on players in most situations, I think this is a great move by the Cowboys. Hopefully the restrictions will help to keep Dez out of trouble. Not only can these restriction be beneficial for the Cowboys on the field, it could potentially be vital for Dez's career in the NFL. If the restrictions prove to be helpful, it will be interesting to see if teams with players who have bad off-the-field history try and enact similar rules. It seems likely.

Drew and Dez

Drew Rosenhaus may be the most prominent name of sport agents. He certainly is the most prominent NFL agent. Rosenhaus is the only agent ever to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated, he has negotiated over 2 billion dollars worth of NFL contracts, and is reportedly worth $65 million. Rosenhaus also reportedly offered Dez Bryant some benefits to sign with him before the 2010 NFL draft.

David Wells who is a long time advisor to Dez Bryant, said that Drew Rosenhaus offered him $10,000 for a charity that he worked with. Wells also says that Rosenhaus offered to fly them down to Miami to get the deal signed. Text messages exchanged between Wells and Rosenhaus between December 2009 and January 2010 reveal clear violations of the NFL Player Association policy on agents.

David Wells says he decided to share the text messages now because he is tired of a system that, "takes advantage of athletes, particularly African-American athletes." The timing of the release of the text messages does seem a little suspicious. Dez Bryant decided to switch agents and hire Rosenhaus in December. Recently before Wells decided to release the text messages, Dez Bryant fired Rosenhaus and rehired his original agent Eugene Parker. It is no coincident that Wells decided to call out Rosenhaus after Bryant decided to fire him.

Reportedly, Drew Rosenhaus advanced large sums of money to Dez Bryant after he decided to hire him. Once Bryant fired Rosenhaus and rehired Eugene Parker, Rosenhaus wanted his money back. Rosenhaus contacted contacted Wells looking for the money. It has been reported that Rosenhaus' empire is under some financial problems.

We need agents like Jerry...

Final Thought
As unfortunate as this story is, this is just a small sample of the problems with the sport agency business. A lot of problems exist with college kids entering the professional levels. A significant number of the soon to be professional athletes have never seen the money that they are in line to make. Some powerful agents see these kids as an easy target to exploit. Agents can offer benefits to entice players to sign with them. At the professional level, misconduct by agents still exist, but exist at a lesser level because some of the athletes already have money. If done correctly, sport agency is an important business because agents have power to get the most lucrative contracts for the players they represent.

 @dmrosen7