Mike McCarthy on Cowboys WR Martavis Bryant: ‘Shown more and more with each opportunity’

Dallas Cowboys (10-3) head coach Mike McCarthy gave an update Friday on the status of receiver Martavis Bryant, whom the team signed to their practice squad in November.

McCarthy admitted that Bryant, who hasn’t appeared in a game this season, had a “conditioning hurdle to get over” upon signing with the team.

“I really like him,” McCarthy said, via Jon Machota of The Athletic. “He’s done a really, really good job coming in here, fitting in here. I think just like anybody that’s been away for the amount of time he has, there definitely was a conditioning hurdle to get over. He has lost a little weight. I think he has shown more and more with each opportunity. Excellent personality. He’s just trying to do everything right. I have a lot of respect for the way he has come in here.”

Martavis Bryant looking for another NFL opportunity

Bryant, 31, last played in an NFL game during the 2018 season with the Las Vegas Raiders. He has been suspended multiple times for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy and was recently reinstated. Prior to signing with the Cowboys, Bryant played in the XFL for the Vegas Vipers. In eight games, he hauled in 14 receptions for 154 yards.

In his latest season in the NFL, he came down with 19 receptions for 266 yards. He spent the previous four seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who selected him in the fourth-round of the 2014 NFL Draft out of Clemson. In 36 games across three seasons, he hauled in 126 receptions for 1,917 yards and 17 touchdowns. Bryant briefly spent time with the Toronto Argonauts and Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League in 2021. Both organizations released him before the start of training camp.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reinstated him last month after a five-year suspension.

“I had a process I had to go through, steps I had to do, maintaining my sobriety,” Bryant said. “Meeting with my counselor. Doing the things I was supposed to do to show that I changed. I put the work in, man, and I’m proud of that. First off, it started with the NFL, I had to go through six months of testing, you know, counselors, doing a lot of things they asked me to do.”