Dez Bryant Celebrates New Cowboys Contract With A Segway

There were any number of purchases newly inked Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant could have made to celebrate his fat, $70 million dollar contract extension signed earlier this week. But instead of going the lavish or outrageous route, it appears Bryant simply bought himself a segway.

According to the Dallas Morning News Dez purchased a brand new IO Hawk. The item, described on the company web site as an “Inteligent Personal Mobility Device,” starts at just under $1800 bucks. Bryant even posted a video himself enjoying his new purchase to his Instagram account. Not quite the private island or brand new sports car that many envisioned Dez blowing his new money on.

But then again, with only $45 million guaranteed, it may be safer for Bryant to watch what he spends on. He and Denver Broncos wideout Demaryius Thomas both inked new contracts with their respective teams, as reported by Inquistr. But as Bleacher Report points out, their signings completely reset the wide receiver market first established by Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson back in 2014 – and not in the direction most players would like to see it move.

“Dez Bryant and Demaryius Thomas, two consistently elite receivers who each outproduced Johnson by a large margin in 2014, just signed stunningly similar contracts. At five years, $70 million, with around $45 million guaranteed, both deals fall significantly short of Johnson’s in terms of length, average annual value and guarantees.”

So what does writer Ty Schalter attribute this drastic reduction in guaranteed money for two elite players? According to the article it’s simply a matter of supply and demand.

“The average NFL team has about five receivers who contribute…two who play like starters and one that’s a standard deviation above average. About a third of teams boast a receiver who’s two standard deviations above average.”

Simply put: there’s more than enough talent at Dez Bryant and Demaryius Thomas’ position to go around. So does their signing make sense from a team point of view? ESPN Cowboys blogger Todd Archer certainly thinks so.

“I guess you could make the argument that no player is worth what they’re getting for playing a game, but that might be too cynical,” Archer argues. “I absolutely believe Dez Bryant is worth what the Cowboys paid him. He changes just about everything for their offense. He makes the running game better because of how defenses have to account for him. It’s fairly obvious that he makes the passing game better. Add it all up and he makes the defense better too because a defense with a great offense doesn’t have to be perfect all the time.”

[Photo credit Rob Carr / Getty Images]