Dez Bryant

Desmond Demond "Dez" Bryant (born November 4, 1988) is an American football wide receiver and return specialist for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Oklahoma State University, and earned All-American honors. He was chosen by the Dallas Cowboys in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft.

Early years
Bryant was born in Lufkin, Texas and attended Lufkin High School. As a senior he was a member of the Texas Football Super Team first-team and was an All-state selection after recording 53 receptions for 1,207 yards with 21 touchdowns.

Regarded as a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Bryant was listed as the No. 9 wide receiver prospect in the class of 2007.

College career
Bryant attended Oklahoma State University, where he played for coach Mike Gundy's Oklahoma State Cowboys football team in 2007 and 2008. As a freshman in 2007, he finished second on the team with 43 receptions for 622 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games. In a game against Kansas he set an OSU record for receiving yards in a game by a freshman with 155. Bryant had a great performance in the 2007 Insight Bowl, recording nine receptions for 117 yards and two touchdowns in a 49-33 win against the Indiana Hoosiers.

Bryant finished the 2008 season for Oklahoma State with 87 receptions for 1,480 yards and 19 touchdowns, including 2 punt returns for touchdowns. Bryant was ruled ineligible for the rest of the 2009 season on October 7 for violating an NCAA bylaw. He failed to fully disclose his interaction with Deion Sanders, a former NFL player, to the NCAA. He was considered the best receiver in 2009 and a possible Heisman contender before the suspension.

College awards and honors

 * 2007 Second-team freshman All-America
 * 2008 First team All-America by AFCA-Coaches, Associated Press, Walter Camp, Sporting News, Pro Football Weekly, Sports Illustrated

2010 NFL Draft
On November 5, 2009, Bryant announced his intentions to enter the 2010 NFL Draft. He was widely believed to be one of the best wide receivers available in the draft, and was projected as high as the No. 1 pick overall in some mock drafts. Bryant was believed to be targeted by the Denver Broncos (11th pick overall), who traded their Pro Bowl receiver Brandon Marshall to the Miami Dolphins prior to the draft. If slipping by the Broncos, Bryant was projected to fall no lower than No. 27 to the Dallas Cowboys. Eventually the Cowboys traded their 27th overall pick to the New England Patriots for their 24th overall pick to select Bryant.

2010
Bryant was signed by the Cowboys to a contract very similar to that of Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin (five years, $12.05 million, roughly $8.4 million guaranteed) on July 22, 2010. On July 23, 2010, it was announced that Bryant will wear number 88, the same as Hall of Famer Michael Irvin, and Cowboys legend Drew Pearson. On October 17, 2010, Bryant caught his first NFL touchdown catch, on a 31-yard pass from Tony Romo. The Cowboys ended up losing that game 24-21.

In a Monday Night Football game vs. the New York Giants, at Cowboys stadium on October 25, 2010, Bryant caught four passes for 54 yards, two of them for TDs, and also returned a punt 93 yards for a touchdown, making the longest Cowboys' punt return since Dennis Morgan's 98-yard return during the 1974 NFL season. On November 15, 2010, Bryant caught 3 passes for 104 yards and 1 touchdown, to become the first Cowboys rookie with a 100+ yard game since Antonio Bryant.

During the fourth quarter of the Cowboys' 38-35 victory over the Colts, Bryant went down with a fractured ankle. Indianapolis' Kavell Conner held onto Bryant's leg while tackling him on a kickoff return, and the Cowboys immediately took Bryant to the locker room. He was placed on the injured reserve list and had surgery on the fractured ankle. He left the game with one catch for 14 yards and a 35.7-yard average on three kickoff returns.

Bryant finished his rookie season with 45 receptions for 561 yards and 6 receiving touchdowns.

2011
With the departure of Roy Williams, Bryant won the starting job opposite of Miles Austin.

Bryant started the first game of the 2011 season against the New York Jets where he had 3 receptions for 71 yards and a touchdown. Dallas lost the game.

Bryant missed the second game of the 2011 season against the San Francisco 49ers due to injury as the Cowboys won their game in overtime.

Bryant started his second game of the season against the division rivals and previously undefeated Washington Redskins on a Monday Night Football game. Playing injured, Bryant managed 4 receptions for 63 yards in that game helping his team to a win.

In the fourth game of the season against the, at the time, undefeated Detroit Lions, Bryant had 3 receptions for 37 yards, 1 rush for 5 yards and 2 receiving touchdowns in his team's loss. His 2 touchdown game marked just the second time in his career with multiple touchdowns in one game.

Against the New England Patriots Bryant had 4 receptions for 78 yards in a heartbreaking loss on the road.

In Week 7 of the 2011 regular season, the Dallas Cowboys went up against the St. Louis Rams at Cowboys Stadium. In the contest, Bryant had the most productive game of his season thus far, hauling in 5 receptions for 90 yards and a touchdown, helping his team to a win. His 5 receptions that game ranked 4th most receptions in a game for his career and his 90 yards were his second most yards in a game of his career. His yardage output of the game also ranked as the most yards in a single game for his 2011 season. Bryant was not officially given the start for the game. Bryant's best game of the season was overshadowed by rookie teammate Demarco Murray's record-breaking day.

The 7th game of the season pinned the 3-3 Dallas Cowboys against the 2-4 Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Field. Bryant had just 3 receptions for 28 yards in a 34-7 loss. The 28 yards gained by Bryant was his lowest total yards in a game for the 2011 season through seven games.

The following week, against the Seattle Seahawks, Bryant recorded 4 receptions for 76 yards on 9 targets. Bryant also fumbled and lost the fumble, both for the first time in his career as he was tackled near the opponent's 1 yard line. The Cowboys got the win against the Seahawks 23-13. At the midway point of the season, Bryant had 26 receptions for 443 yards and 4 touchdowns on 6 starts. Similarly, in 2010 at the midway point of the season, Bryant had 38 receptions for 435 and 3 touchdowns on 2 starts.

Bryant finished the season with 63 receptions for 928 yards and 9 touchdowns.

2012
The offseason started with Bryant being charged with misdemeanor family violence because of an incident with his mother. In September and October he was being criticized for dropping balls, fumbles or running poor routes, but he started to live up to his potential in a week 8 game against the New York Giants, almost coming up with a last minute hail mary touchdown (it was reversed because his hand was ruled out of bounds). That performance was the start of a break out season, that was worthy of Pro Bowl consideration.

In week 11 against the Cleveland Browns, Bryant had 12 catches for a career-high 145 yards, breaking his previous personal best of 110 yards during week 8 against the New York Giants. His 12 receptions fell short of his career-high 13 catches during week 6 against the Baltimore Ravens.

Despite a week 12 loss against the Washington Redskins, Bryant matched his yardage total from the previous week, and recorded 2 touchdowns.

In weeks 13 and 14 against the Philadelphia Eagles and Cincinnati Bengals, Bryant compiled a total of 148 receiving yards and 3 touchdown receptions. This brought his 5 week scoring total to 7 touchdowns, which helped the team win 4 out of their last 5 games.

Against the New Orleans Saints in a week 16 loss, he had the best game of his career up to that point, with nine receptions for a career-high 224 yards (fourth most in team history), two touchdowns and also tying the franchise record for most consecutive games (7) with at least a touchdown reception, which is shared with Franklin Clarke (1961-1962), Bob Hayes (1965-1966) and Terrell Owens (2007).

Bryant finished the 2012 season with 92 receptions for 1,382 yards (15 yards-per-catch average) and 12 touchdowns; these ranked 10th, 6th and 3rd respectively among all receivers.

Personal
Bryant had a troubled upbringing, born to a teenage mother who was arrested for dealing crack cocaine when he was age eight. He went on to live in eight different homes while at Lufkin High School.

Bryant was sued in March 2011 for $861,350 for legal fees and the cost of jewelry he allegedly took without payment.

On July 16th, 2012, Bryant was arrested on a class A misdemeanor domestic violence charge for allegedly striking his biological mother, Angela Bryant. She ultimately didn't press charges.