Saints Open To Re-Signing Dez Bryant Next Year

Sources tell Ian Rapoport of NFL Media that the Saints would be open to re-signing WR Dez Bryant once healthy next year.

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 last week.

Rapoport says 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 is looking at a 6-9 month recovery from the Achilles tear he recently suffered, which means he’s looking at a scenario where he’ll be 100 percent by next May at the earliest.

Also working against Bryant is the fact that he’s going to be 31 and no one got to see how well he performed before the injury.

The Saints officially placed Bryant on injured reserve Saturday.

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.