While Dez Bryant is nominally a professional, it was widely reported on Monday that he had agreed to a series of stringent off-field rules -- curfew, off-field security, no alcohol -- more suitable to a college freshman.
That may be necessary for the talented but troubled young WR to stay out of trouble, but it could be an issue for the NFLPA, which is understandably leery of allowing NFL teams this much control over their players lives. Over at Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio speculates about the precedent this could set:
None of it is football related. A nightly midnight curfew. No strip clubs. An approved list of night clubs. A rotating three-man security team. While a team has limited ability to take action if a player gets into trouble away from work, there's nothing in the CBA that allows a team to impose such proactive measures. And if the Cowboys are paying for the security team, the value of that service probably should count toward Bryant's total cap number for 2012.
That may explain why Jerry Jones was so quick to distance the team from the "Dez Rules" in a radio interview with Dallas 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday.
It seems unlikely that the NFLPA would step in the relationship between the team and player, especially after Bryant's long history of off-the-field indiscretions. But at the same time, what happens if teams start enforcing these rules on other players with less checked histories?
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