Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant was suspended by the NCAA for lying while he was at Oklahoma State. Prior to his junior season, Bryant had a legal dinner with Deion Sanders. When he was asked about the dinner by the NCAA, Bryant got nervous he may have committed a violation and lied about it. Now, the NFL receiver says he will be bitter if Johnny Manziel doesn’t face similar punishment.
“Hell yeah, I’ll be mad,” Bryant told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Tuesday. “I will be mad. But I don’t want him to get suspended. I will be mad more at the NCAA on how they do things. I just feel like it’s not fair. This is something I have no problem talking about because I feel like somebody needs to say something to him and let it be known how they treat people is not right.”
In other words, Bryant doesn’t want to feel that the NCAA treated him unfairly and lets other players off the hook. The problem is he admitted to lying, whereas Manziel is not going to admit to receiving money in exchange for autographs even if it happened. The NCAA would have to find the money he was allegedly paid in order to punish him.
“I did lie,” Bryant said of his situation. “I came back. I told the truth and they suspended me indefinitely. The way the guy was talking to me was like I did something wrong. I didn’t know it was OK for me to go to someone’s house.”
Bryant wants to NCAA to be consistent in its punishment, but he doesn’t feel Manziel did anything wrong. In fact, he thinks collegiate athletes should be compensated for their autographs.
“He should be able to sign as many autographs and make as much money as he wants, because it’s his name,” Bryant said. “I feel like he’s the one who created it. He should be able to do whatever he feels as long as it’s legal and I don’t think there’s anything illegal about signing a picture of yourself and making money off himself.”
Bryant reiterated that he does not want to see Manziel suspended. As more and more stories surface about Manziel being paid for signings, it might be easier for investigators to find some concrete evidence. That would be bad news for Johnny Football.
