Dez Bryant: “I Have To Play Again. I Can’t End Like This”

On Thursday, Saints WR Dez Bryant said he has to return in 2019 and can’t allow the Achilles injury he suffered in his first week with New Orleans to end his NFL career.

“I have to (play again). I got business and I got ball,” Bryant said in an interview with KRLD-FM in Dallas, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I can’t end like this. I have to throw the X up.”

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media previously reported that the Saints would be open to re-signing Bryant once healthy next year, so that’s something to keep an eye on.

According to Rapoport, the Saints liked Bryant, even though he wasn’t in game shape when they signed him, which may have contributed to him suffering an Achilles tear.

Rapoport mentioned that Bryant received interest from the Ravens, Browns, Saints, Redskins, Cardinals, Bills, Seahawks and Packers at different points as a free agent this past offseason.

Bryant should be 100 percent by next May at the earliest.

Bryant, 30, is a former first-round pick of the Cowboys back in 2010. He was in the third year of his five-year, $70 million contract that included $45 million guaranteed and was set to make base salaries of $12.5 million over the final two years of the agreement when Dallas released him in a move that freed up $8.5 million of available cap space.

The Saints signed Bryant to a one-year deal worth $600,000 over the remainder of the season. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in 2019.

In 2017, Bryant appeared in 15 games for the Cowboys and has caught 66 passes for 814 yards receiving and six touchdowns. Pro Football Focus had him rated as the No. 45 receiver out of 116 qualifying players.