Dez Bryant is a player that many believe will have a break out season with the Dallas Cowboys in 2011. With a healthy Tony Romo back under center, Bryant has a chance to emerge as the Cowboys No. 1 receiver ahead of Miles Austin before the season comes to an end. He is that talented.

The aforementioned scenario would be ideal for the second-year receiver, as it appears he could use some more money.  Although he insists he has fixed his surroundings and now has his head on straight, Bryant is reportedly in significant debt.  According to the Star-Telegram, Bryant faced two lawsuits in the spring totaling $850,000 — one of which has been settled.  The other is a pending suit in which Eleow Hunt alleges that Bryant and his adviser, David Wells, owe him $600,000 for jewelry, sports tickets, and repayment of loans.

Bryant has four years left on his five-year, $11.8 million deal.  He made made $2.84 million last season that included a signing bonus, but his base salary for this year is $1.1 million.  Obviously that is a lot of money, but the $600,000 he owes would account for well over half of his base salary for this season.

Needless to say, Dez’s teammates should probably give him a break from now on when it comes to buying five-figure dinners.

The only news about Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant lately has been positive. Dez is said to be dominating during the team’s training camp and many of his teammates are expecting a breakout season. But until recently, Dez had been more known for his problems away from football rather than his play on the field.

As recently as July, we passed along a report saying Bryant had skipped out on an autograph session. Before that, he supposedly had trouble at a shopping mall for wearing his pants too low. He’s reportedly owed jewelers money, and who can forget the pads carrying incident with Roy Williams last year?

That’s a nice summary of all the issues Dez has faced. Now, Bryant says he’s a changed man.

“I think it was my surroundings [that led to problems],” Bryant told the Cowboys website. “I feel like I fixed that, and I’m headed on the straight and narrow path. I don’t need to get into details. Everything is done, I like how it’s going and my life is on straight.”

Aside from cracking up over envisioning Dez saying he’s headed “on the straight and narrow,” I’m not sure I can buy all this. It’s one thing to say everything is fixed, but the best way to prove the change is by avoiding trouble.

Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant has had a tough run since college. He was ruled ineligible in his junior season at Oklahoma State for lying to the NCAA about his dealings with Deion Sanders, his former mentor who is no longer advising him. Bryant has had several issues with paying back debts, he reportedly was kicked out of a mall for wearing baggy pants, and he was a disrespectful rookie during training camp. The latest charge against him should not surprise you.

The Dallas Observer reports that Dez Bryant skipped an autograph signing in Atlantic City which he agreed to attend. Dez reportedly was set to make around $10,000 to sign autographs for two hours at the Collectors Showcase of America last month in New Jersey. His deal was pretty sweet too. According to the report, Bryant was to receive round-trip flights for himself and two others, three hotel rooms in Edison, an 80-mile limo ride to Atlantic City and two hotel rooms there, including a luxury suite.

When Bryant arrived at the airport for his departing flight, he called the liaison and began complaining about the deal. Then he said he couldn’t make it because he had to go to Houston to visit his father who just had a heart attack.

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Dez Bryant owes a teammate dinner, only this time it’s not for rookie hazing and unlikely to cost 55 grand. Bryant apparently owes fellow rookie Bryan McCann a meal because of a bet they had.

Bryant and McCann are the special teams returners for Dallas and they bet on who would score the first return touchdown. McCann accomplished the feat when he scooped up a punt and raced 97 yards past all the Detroit Lions in week 11.

The irony about the play is that Bryant was supposed to return the punt but he let it go because it was bouncing near the end zone. McCann came out of nowhere to grab the punt, catching the Lions players off guard.

I’m guessing this dinner shouldn’t cost more than a few hundred bucks. And after beating Detroit, I’m sure Dez would be happy to pay.

Good news for the Dallas Cowboys regarding rookie Dez Bryant: the wide receiver seems to have made nice with his teammates after refusing to carry Roy Williams’ shoulder pads during training camp this summer.  At the time we saw nothing wrong with Bryant’s refusal, considering Williams has been somewhat of a bum since coming to Dallas from Detroit.  In retrospect, maybe the rookie should have just carried the pads like all the other newbies.

If he had, he might be $54,896 richer today.  That’s right, according to ESPN Dallas Dez Bryant treated his teammates to a $54,896 dinner at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse.  The original plan was to treat only the offense to dinner, but apparently Williams took the liberty of inviting the defense.  Needless to say, the gang was all there and brought their appetites.

Players supposedly ordered everything on the menu and took a few bottles of wine to go.  The fact that someone can dish out that amount of money for a dinner and continue living their life is amazing to me.  You would think Bryant’s teammates would cut him a bit of a break and keep the total to — oh I don’t know — under $10,000?  Would that be unreasonable?

Note to all NFL rookies of the future: just carry the shoulder pads like Travis Ivey did and accept the bad haircuts.  It could be a lot worse.