Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Bryant and Beckham: Worth the trouble?

Dez Bryant was in the news for a negative reason again this past week, but only after Odell Beckham Jr. had another mental meltdown up at the Meadowlands.

Dez Bryant was in the news for a negative reason again this past week, but only after Odell Beckham Jr. had another mental meltdown up at the Meadowlands.

Would you still be willing to add either one to the Eagles if they became available? Can you envision Carson Wentz throwing to a superstar outside receiver?

Even as all those awards and accolades came pouring down on the unbeaten Eagles during their bye week, the one thing you did not hear was this: How about those wide receivers?

The nicest thing we can say about the Eagles' pass catchers after three games is that at least they are no trouble. If you're looking for divas, you will not find them in Doug Pederson's locker room.

It is not a great group, but that brings us back to our original question: Would you trade team tranquility in order to give Wentz a deep threat who might also be high maintenance?

The Eagles, of course, have encountered this question before. We will not rehash the T.O. era because that story is well known and it's best that it remain buried.

Wentz is obviously very good at spreading the ball around and he has some outstanding non-receiver targets in Darren Sproles, Zach Ertz, Brent Celek and Trey Burton. It would be interesting, however, to see what he could do with an outside guy who has either great speed or a tremendous height advantage.

It is also fair to wonder about the negative impact guys such as Bryant and Beckham bring.

"The situation with Dez is an interesting one, it's a challenging one," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said last week after Bryant skipped treatment and an MRI examination for an injured knee that is likely to keep him sidelined for at least a couple of games.

The Cowboys reportedly fined Bryant, and Garrett later defended his high-strung receiver, saying he feared the results of the MRI would reveal an injury that would keep him out for a while.

"He's an emotional person and he didn't handle it the right way," Garrett said. "What we have to do as a team is we have to handle it the right way. We understand where he was coming from and then we address it, we solve it, we move on. That's how we handle things here. And that's what we've done."

It was childish behavior and you have to believe Bryant will do something similar before the season is over.

Meanwhile, up in North Jersey, Beckham took on a kicking net and lost after Eli Manning threw the first of his two fourth-quarter interceptions that doomed the Giants to their first loss of the season, against Washington.

Beckham caught seven passes for 121 yards, but that's not what anybody remembered.

"He needs to control his emotions better and become less of a distraction to himself and to his teammates," Giants rookie coach Ben McAdoo said. "It's our job to help him with that process and maturing."

Manning said Beckham has not become a distraction, but just the fact that the quarterback had to spend time settling his teammate down on the sideline and answer questions about it afterward says otherwise.

An FYI: DeSean Jackson can be a free agent after this season. Would you welcome him back to Philadelphia?

Parkey's new chance

Cody Parkey has experienced the most extreme of ups and downs during his brief NFL career. As a rookie with the Eagles in 2014, he was on top of the world after setting an NFL rookie scoring record with 150 points. He earned a trip to the Pro Bowl and seemingly set himself up for a long career in Philadelphia. A severe groin injury, however, prematurely ended his 2015 season after three games and opened the door for Caleb Sturgis to take his job.

Parkey has another chance with Cleveland, but he nearly lost that after missing three of six field-goal attempts, including a 46-yarder that would have given the Browns a win over Miami at the end of regulation last Sunday. The Browns, of course, did what the Browns do in overtime - they lost.

Give Browns coach Hue Jackson credit for showing some empathy for Parkey, who signed with the team less than 48 hours before the game in Miami after kicker Patrick Murray suffered an injury in practice.

"I can't put that on him," Jackson said. "That is a tough situation. Everybody says, 'Well, that is the kicker's job.' It is his job, but normally, a guy has a job, he has been around his employer a little bit and he has been around his teammates a little bit. . . . It was tough circumstances."

Parkey missed from 41, 42, and 46 yards and made attempts of 46, 48, and 38. He also sent six kicks into the end zone for touchbacks, and the only kick that was returned was short of the 25-yard line.

bbrookover@phillynews.com

@brookob