Dez Bryant believes he could ‘thrive’ in the Arizona Cardinals’ offense

The Arizona Cardinals’ wide receivers room has gone through some massive ups and downs in less than a week’s time.

The Cardinals looked to have remedied their need for a legit No. 2 wide receiver with a draft-day trade to acquire Marquise Brown, only to watch No. 1 option DeAndre Hopkins get hit with a six-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy.

Among those keeping tabs on the pass-catching situation in the desert is veteran wide receiver and current free agent Dez Bryant, who believes adding him to the mix could be beneficial for all sides involved.

“If the Arizona Cardinals bring me in and give me the opportunity just to get my body right, get my mind right, just follow their roadmap on how they do things, I do think I would have a good shot to help facilitate,” Bryant told I Am Athlete Tonight on SiriusXM on Monday. “It’s always good to have someone who’s done it before and I really do believe that I have that type of experience to help those young guys, because the ability those guys have over there is just crazy.

“Being around an atmosphere like that, I’m going to be real with you, I think I would thrive, I would get better, those guys would get me better. I just think that we would make each other great and (I can help) get the Cardinals where they need to go.”

Bryant hasn’t donned an NFL jersey since a six-game stint with the Baltimore Ravens in 2020. During that time, the wide receiver caught six of 11 targets for 47 yards and two touchdowns. He also got an up close look at Brown, who was in his second NFL season at the time.

Before his stint with the Ravens, Bryant had missed the past two seasons after suffering an Achilles injury in 2018. He trained the following season but never signed on with a team.

Bryant more than realizes his days of being a team’s No. 1 option are long gone being five years removed from his last Pro Bowl and seven campaigns removed from his last 1,000-yard season.

In his eyes, though, the veteran thinks Arizona is a match made in heaven given the offense and his relationship with current Cardinals.

“Of course DeAndre Hopkins, that’s my boy, we’re close,” Bryant said. “Kyler Murray, I love Kyler’s swag, I love his confidence. Rondale Moore, Marquise Brown, a lot of those guys I know on a personal level. Mainly, It’s not to go there and try and be the Dez Bryant that I was when I first got into the NFL.

“It’s really just more so just facilitating, being an example of how to work hard, how to do things on and off the field. There’s a lot of (expletive) that I’ve been through that I can help the next guy in. I’ve been doing that, I’ve been doing a tremendous job in that so it’s really just for those reasons.”

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