Dez Bryant wasn’t thrilled with criticism lobbed his way on Thursday by Fox Sports 1 analyst Cris Carter and took to Twitter to call out the new FS1 host.
Bryant tweeted directly at Carter, calling him a puppet for recent comments criticizing the Dallas Cowboys wide receiver’s production in 2016.
Within an hour of tweeting, Bryant deleted the comment and apologized.
Bryant took offense with Carter after the Hall of Fame receiver appeared on FS1’s Undisputed and criticized his catch-rate. He also told Bryant to stop DMing him.
"Tell him to don't DM me anymore." — @criscarter80's advice for @DezBryant pic.twitter.com/TyHe7bJqqg
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) December 29, 2016
“There’s only 57 players targeted 90 times this season,” Carter said. “Dez is the absolute worst — targeted over 90 times, only caught 52 percent of those passes.
“If you got some advice for him, tell him don’t DM me anymore, because I got something for him. You gonna DM me after a game telling me watch the tape? That’s all I do is watch tape. He tried to (DM me) talking about his family and everything, no problem. You want to take care of your family? When they target you 90 times, catch more balls. That’s your job.”
Carter might have crossed the line talking about private DMs, which likely set Bryant off, but the Cowboys receiver has a right to be pissed at the Hall of Famer. Carter has called out Bryant multiple times while appearing on FS1 programs. Back in November, he said Bryant had a low football IQ and that he “doesn’t know enough of the offense for them to move him in different spots.”
Dez responded earlier this month, claiming he “was a huge fan” of Carter’s and that he was talking bad “just to get his name out there.”
The retired Minnesota Vikings wideout is a professional bloviator, so he’s just doing his job by calling out Bryant and eliciting a response. Even with stats to back up his argument, Carter’s criticisms shouldn’t be taken personally. However, Bryant clearly took them that way and immaturely went to Twitter to call Carter out. Good on him for deleting the post and apologizing, but Bryant’s reaction was exactly what Carter was aiming for. You can bet the topic will dominate FS1’s sports talk news cycle for the rest of the week.
About Liam McGuire
Social +Staff writer for The Comeback & Awful Announcing. Liammcguirejournalism@gmail.com