Cowboys Want to Make Dez Bryant Happy

If the Dallas Cowboys wanted to truly compete for a Super Bowl this season, they had to have a happy Dez Bryant.

With the five-year, $70 million deal that ESPN Insider Chris Mortensen reported, Bryant should be plenty happy. And a happy Bryant makes for some happy Cowboys.

It's not that Bryant wouldn't have given the same effort if he had to play the season on the $12.823 million franchise tag, but he might have wondered what else he had to do to get long-term security from the only team he has known and the only team he has truly wanted to play for.

The Cowboys' offense would have been OK without Bryant. Tony Romo has made it work with receivers at all levels since becoming the Cowboys' starting quarterback. The offensive line would have been good enough to make things just good enough.

But Bryant changes the dynamic of the offense.

He can score from anywhere on the field. There are few receivers in the NFL like that.

As coach Jason Garrett likes to say, defenses know where No. 88 is on every play, and they do as much as they can to slow him down.