After being criticized for forgetting his cleats and testing slow in two 40-yard-dash runs yesterday at a private workout for NFL scouts, Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant lashed out in an interview with the Associated Press on Wednesday.
From USA Today:
“I’m not the type of person that will try to confront somebody but now I feel like it’s gone too far. It’s gone too far,” Bryant said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I ain’t never got in trouble with nobody. I never said anything. I don’t say anything wrong to nobody. I’m friendly. This here is too far.
“What is this? Y’all don’t want me to go to the NFL or something? It’s going to happen,” Bryant said. “It is going to happen. God blessed me to have this ability to play this game.
“I haven’t did anything wrong to nobody.”
“What do this got to do with me playing football? Even if I did forget my cleats, what do that have to do with me playing football? I don’t think it has anything to do with me playing football.”
I don’t know about anyone else, but if I were about to work out for pro scouts, I would have made sure that I wore my cleats to bed the night before. I would have forgotten to put my underwear on before I forgot my cleats. It’s like a surgeon forgetting his scalpel the day of surgery.
Maybe the criticism has gone too far, but perception is often reality. While he was at Oklahoma State, there were reports that Bryant skipped meetings and classes and even showed up late for games. Then the NCAA suspended him for almost the entire 2009 season because he lied to investigators about his interaction with Deion Sanders. Then, amidst rumors that he was out of shape, he didn’t work out at the Combine or at OSU’s Pro Day and forgot his cleats yesterday for a private workout.
So what does Bryant expect people to think? He has done nothing to change the perception that he’s mature or that he’s willing to change his rep. He needs to slow down, put in the work and then let everything else take care of itself.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
