Matt Chatham: Dez Bryant, Demaryius Thomas Show Hardball Often Best Strategy

Russell Wilson is trying to play within the system, and from everything Matt Chatham has heard about Wilson’s pristine character, that doesn’t surprise Chatham in the slightest.

The problem according to Chatham, a former NFL linebacker, is that being nice isn’t always the best business strategy. While Wilson keeps saying all the right things about his terrible (from a player’s perspective) contract, wide receivers Dez Bryant and Demaryius Thomas are getting paid because they were willing to play hardball.

“My personal position — and one of the overriding goals of (his website, FootballbyFootball.com) — is by default we should generally support whatever is best for the player,” Chatham writes. “They are the ones putting their bodies on the line. No matter how you slice it, relative to the kind of player Wilson is, he’s about to willfully play for the NFL’s worst deal. In a game where your career can be over in an instant, that’s clearly not what’s best for the player.”

Chatham also notes how curious it is that Bryant and Thomas, who sparked brief accusations of collusion against the NFL owners, signed eerily similar contracts to one another. But that’s another argument for another day.

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Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images