Dez Bryant Says Someone Should Have ‘Brought Jerry Jones’ To The Black Lives Matter Protests
Dez Bryant isn’t happy with the way the Dallas Cowboys’ ownership and front office have comported themselves since the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests broke out all over the country. On Sunday morning, the former Cowboys receiver took to Twitter to voice that displeasure.
“Somebody should have brought Jerry jones Stephen jones and Jason Witten to this protest down in Austin……this is not a policy change this is a heart change and yea I said it.”
While the team tweeted out a video on Friday saying they are active when it comes to issues surrounding Black Lives Matter, Bryant apparently doesn’t think they have done enough. Sam Marsdale of 247Sports reported a video was also sent out by several different players, including the Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliot, asking the NFL to do more to lead when it comes to subjects like racism. In response, Roger Goodell released a video of his own, apologizing to players for not listening to them more on the issue. Many analysts believe his video was also an explicit acceptance of players’ protesting police brutality by taking a knee during the national anthem.
Marsdale also reported quite a few owners were surprised Goodell released the video. They were reportedly not consulted on the move and some were not happy the commissioner took the unilateral step.
When it comes to the Cowboys, owner Jerry Jones has gone on record as being against kneeling during the anthem. He’s reported to be one of the owners that pushed for a league-wide rule banning the practice. That rule was passed before the 2018 season, though the league has yet to enforce it. After it was adopted, there was a great deal of public pushback, which led to the rule being largely ignored, although it wasn’t fully rescinded.
The lack of enforcement meant it was largely up to individual teams to determine how to handle their players protesting. Bryant’s tweet appears to show he’s not happy with how the Cowboys handled the situation. As of this writing, Dallas has not issued a response to Goodell’s video.
Bryant’s tweet is a continued change in tone when addressing his former team. Earlier in the offseason, the wide receiver made it clear he’d like to return to Dallas. He even went so far as to make phone calls to team president Stephen Jones asking for an official tryout. After the 2020 NFL Draft and the Cowboys’ selection of receiver CeeDee Lamb in the first round, analysts said the writing was on the wall and Bryant had very little chance of returning to his former team.
Since then, he’s blasted them for not signing quarterback Dak Prescott to a new contract. Now, it seems he’s put them on notice for not doing more for the black community.
