Dez Bryant takes shots at ex-Cowboys coach Jason Garrett to defend his legacy

There's no love lost between former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant and his former head coach Jason Garrett. The latest tweet by the retired wide receiver appears to blame Garrett for the Cowboys team’s lack of Super Bowl success.

The social media exchange started when Cowboys beat reporter Brandon Loree tweeted a list of notable Dallas Cowboys players and how their legacies would be different had they made it to a Super Bowl. Bryant’s name was included in the list.

The list was impressive. Every player listed was a multiple-time pro bowler, including hall of famer DeMarcus Ware and All-Pro players like Tony Romo, Jason Witten, Ezekiel Elliott, and Zack Martin.

That led Bryant to reply, posting a laughing emoji and a gif of former head coach Jason Garrett.

The GIF is supposedly from a television appearance by the former head coach and shows Garreet looking sheepishly at the camera. The response by Bryant appeared to place the blame for the Cowboys’ lack of postseason success on Garrett.

Jason Garrett is now a media analyst on NBC Sports.

Jason Garrett was Dez Bryant’s longest-serving head coach

Dez Bryant spent the entirety of his eight-year Dallas Cowboys career playing for head coach Jason Garrett. During that period, the team had very little postseason success. They made it to the NFC Divisional Game twice, only to lose to the Green Bay Packers on both occasions. They then failed to make the playoffs in the other six years.

Despite limited playoff success, Bryant was wildly popular among the Dallas Cowboys’ faithful. He wore #88, a number made famous by past Cowboys wide receivers Michael Irvin and Drew Pearson. At one point, he had the fifth best-selling jersey in the NFL.

His play lived up to the hype, and he was selected for the Pro Bowl three times during this span. He was the favorite option for quarterback Tony Romo, with whom he amassed 5,133 of his 7,724 career yards.

His production dipped after 2015 and he suffered several foot, knee, and ankle injuries that caused him to miss games over the next three seasons. Bryant was then released by the Cowboys in 2018 and played for the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens before retiring in 2021.

The recent tweet by Dez Bryant implied that he still harbors ill feelings toward his former head coach, and Cowboys fans may be inclined to agree that Garrett was to blame considering the star-studded lineup the team had during those years.