Dez Bryant refuses rookie training camp treatment. "..not carry another player's pads."

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Dez refuses to carry Williams' pads
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By Tim MacMahon
ESPNDallas.com
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SAN ANTONIO -- Receiver Dez Bryant has done everything right on the field during the first two days of Dallas Cowboys training camp, but he refuses to participate in an NFL rite of passage.

According to the rookie first-round pick, Roy Williams and the other veteran receivers can carry their own shoulder pads after practice.

Williams gave his pads to Bryant after Sunday's morning practice, but Bryant declined to carry them. Williams threatened to go to "step two" when talking to reporters.


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"I'm not doing it," Bryant said. "I feel like I was drafted to play football, not carry another player's pads."

"If I was a free agent, it would still be the same thing. I just feel like I'm here to play football. I'm here to try to help win a championship, not carry someone's pads. I'm saying that out of no disrespect to [anyone]."

It's a common duty for rookies, who typically get some sort of hazing. Bill Parcells used to make first-round picks bring him water during breaks in practice. The Cowboys' rookie offensive linemen are given awful haircuts by the veterans at some point during each training camp.

"Everybody has to go through it," Williams said. "I had to go through it. No matter if you're a No. 1 pick or the 7,000th pick, you've still got to do something when you're a rookie.

"I carried pads. I paid for dinners. I paid for lunches. I did everything I was supposed to do, because I didn't want to be that guy."

What would "step two" be?

"We'll find out. Definitely going to find out," Williams said. "I don't know. I've seen guys take people's credit cards and go fill up their cards and wife's cards and everything. There's a lot of dirt that goes on in that locker room."

Bryant, a Lufkin, Texas, native who went to Oklahoma State, has become an immediate fan favorite. He made several spectacular catches during each practice in the Alamodome -- where the crowd roars even when he makes routine plays -- and runs a lap around the field high-fiving fans before going into the locker room.

Williams, an Odessa, Texas, native and University of Texas product, is a frequent target of fan criticism due to his poor production since being traded from the Detroit Lions during the 2008 season. He was booed during Sunday morning's practice when he dropped a pass, although Pro Bowler Miles Austin didn't get similar treatment when he had a drop in the afternoon session.

"I bought a Ford F-250 2011. Everybody loves a new car but I also have a 2004 Navigator that's still running," Williams said about the perception that Bryant will soon be the starter. "So that's the way I feel."

There has been no previous friction between Williams and Bryant, whose arrival puts Williams' status as a starter in jeopardy. Williams has consistently praised Bryant publicly and made it clear that the rookie could come to him with any questions that he had.

Williams believes it's a veteran's duty to serve as a mentor to rookies. And he believes it's a rookie's duty to carry the veterans' shoulder pads to the locker room after practice.

"I don't believe in that at all," Bryant said. "We have a goal here. It's not about playing games. It's all about just trying to do the right thing and achieve our goal."
 

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Dez Bryant didnt think this one through

[COLOR=#000000 !important]In a rookie hazing act, teammate Roy Williams tells him to carry his shoulder pads..

Bryant says no...Now because of his actions, this becomes national news.

The rookie b/c of his giant ego, is going to be hounded by media on this for awhile..

I hope Williams puts Liquid heat on his jock like in revenge of the nerds.
[/COLOR]
 

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yet another rookie with an attitude problem, as he is just too good for any rookie initiations. Which follows along w/Bryant refusing to tell the NCAA everything about his meetings with Sanders...leading to that suspension last year.

That was beneath him also...NFL is the place to be, never played a down? Have an attitude problem? Lets make you a millionaire!
 

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It's silly move. Pay ur dues!!
Who didn't see something like this coming from Bryant up Broadway?
Everybody knew going in Bryant is a million dollar talent with a five cent brain.

Jeff Kent pulled the same shit years ago as a New York Met rookie when he wouldn't dress up in a clown suit and walk through the airport with the other rookies. (A rookie hazing ritual)

From that moment on Kent was labeled "difficult"
 
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A rookie with millons of dollars....guy has to pay his dues like the countless rookies before him...

I think he comes out tomorrow with a different attitude...
 

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Maybe Williams asked Ware to have a word with the young millionaire?
 

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apparently I'm the only guy that thinks people are making to big of a deal out of this and in fact i dont really have a problem with it. Maybe i would have a problem with Dez if Jason Witten or tony romo asked him to do something and he said no, but the fact is Dez was brought in to replace Roy Williams. Sorry, I am here to take your job because you've been a complete failure as a WR and you and everybody that watches football knows it. So I'm not going to be your bitch in the meantime. Do something on the field that makes you worth the 6 year $54 million contract you signed and then we'll talk about me carrying your shit.
 

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And in other news - who cares...


Maybe Bryant can make Williams a bet and whoever drops more balls this season can carry the other ones pads. Williams shouldn't be making demands of the janitor.
 

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And in other news - who cares...


Maybe Bryant can make Williams a bet and whoever drops more balls this season can carry the other ones pads. Williams shouldn't be making demands of the janitor.

Thank you, you're the first person i've heard today that agrees with me on this. Hey wasn't Dez the first and only 1st round pick to sign so far. OK then get off his ass saying he has a huge ego or is selfish. He didn' hold out like some other WR did last year. He signed early and got to camp to play football. He is doing his job and reports are he is doing it well. Williams is agruablly the most overpaid player in the NFL. He doesn't need to make demands to the guy that is going to take his job in three weeks.
 

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his mother would've done it
 

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Here's my problem with it.
Dez says "I was drafted to play football..... yadda, yadda, yadda"

Dez needs to look at the All-Pro Cowboys in the locker room that were once rookies, that also were 'drafted to play football' that went along with the rookie hazing rituals without a problem.

Dez is coming across as "I am bigger than this passage of rite routine" IMO
 

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The Titanic also sank in 1912. Dez Bryant with an over-inflated ego? Is this really news to the Cowboys fans? Thought this was expected , far from a surprise
 

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He'll get his in the shower...
 

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Here's my problem with it.
Dez says "I was drafted to play football..... yadda, yadda, yadda"

Dez needs to look at the All-Pro Cowboys in the locker room that were once rookies, that also were 'drafted to play football' that went along with the rookie hazing rituals without a problem.

Dez is coming across as "I am bigger than this passage of rite routine" IMO

yep...

Because bryant took on the NCAA & lost...so he thinks he is so great...

too bad Madden had already put Brees on the cover...

I would have nominated Bryant for the cover..
 

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