Cowboys to sign reinstated veteran WR Martavis Bryant

The Cowboys are adding a veteran wide receiver to the roster, though it’s been a while since he’s seen any NFL action.

Martavis Bryant will officially sign with the Dallas practice squad on Wednesday, the team announced. The news comes following a private workout at The Star on Tuesday morning.

Bryant was reinstated by the NFL on Saturday, ending a suspension that had been handed down in December of 2018.

A fourth-round draft pick of the Steelers in 2014 out of Clemson, Bryant turned in back-to-back 500-yard seasons in a high-powered Pittsburgh offense alongside Antonio Bryant, Darrius Heyward-Bey, and Heath Miller, though he missed several games in his second season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.

Bryant would go on to miss the entire 2016 season for another substance abuse violation. He returned in 2017 and picked up where he left off statistically, though he complained about his role in the Steelers offense and found himself in Mike Tomlin’s doghouse.

A trade sent the 6-foot-4-inch Bryant to the Raiders in 2018, but he lasted just eight games there before suffering a knee injury. Yet another suspension came down just after he went on IR, ending his Raiders tenure and, for almost five years, his NFL career.

The South Carolina native then bounced around from the CFL (though he didn’t actually play for Toronto) to the Indoor Football League, back to the CFL (though he never suited up for Edmonton either), to the Fan Controlled Football league, and finally to the XFL’s Vegas Vipers in 2023.

According to Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, it was assistant director of player personnel Will McClay who elected to bring Bryant in for a workout after an evaluation of his season with the Vipers.

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A softened stance by the league on marijuana has given Bryant a chance at an NFL comeback; Dallas has given him a shot at making a roster. It will be up to Bryant to show if he can make the most of it.

Bryant fills the open 16th spot on the practice squad; no cuts were needed to accommodate his signing.

Should the speedy Bryant graduate from the practice squad, he’ll join a Cowboys receiving corps that is averaging 234.9 yards per game, good for 12th across all teams. CeeDee Lamb leads all pass-catchers with 57 receptions and 824 yards, but tight end Jake Ferguson is the only other Cowboy with more than 30 grabs or 300 yards almost halfway through the 2023 schedule.

Story originally appeared on Cowboys Wire