Cowboys place strict rules on Dez Bryant to keep him out of trouble

Dez Bryant hasn’t exactly been a model citizen since being drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the first round in 2010. There was the incident where Bryant was banned from a Dallas area mall for sagging his pants. Petty, but still unnecessary negative attention. There were also smaller incidents, culminating with Bryant’s recent arrest for a domestic charge regarding his mother.

With those incidents and despite nagging injuries limiting his performance on the field, Bryant has flashed enough pro bowl level talent at times to inspire the Cowboys to place strict guidelines on him to keep him from making further poor off-the-field decisions, as reported by ESPN Dallas:

The guidelines Bryant agreed to took effect Aug. 23 when the team returned to Dallas after three weeks of training camp in California, according to sources.

 Sources say some of the rules Bryant must abide are as follows:

 A midnight curfew. If he’s going to miss curfew, team officials must know in advance;

No drinking alcohol.

 He can’t attend any strip clubs and can only attend nightclubs if they are approved by the team and he has a security team with him.

 He must attend counseling sessions twice a week.

 A rotating three-man security team will leave one man with Bryant at all times.

 Members of the security team will drive Bryant to practices, games and team functions.

The Cowboys placed similar restrictions on former defensive back Adam Jones, which ended in failure after Jones got into a fight with one of his bodyguard and was eventually released.

Will these restrictions work to keep Bryant on the straight and narrow remains to be seen, but Jerry Jones and the ‘Boys have too much invested in Bryant to not try to keep him from potentially ruining his career. It’s a smarter decision to attempt to keep him Bryant line than to let him throw his talent away.

-ALR