Dallas Cowboys place WR Dez Bryant on injured reserve

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant was placed on injured reserve on Wednesday for needing to have surgery on his ankle.

Bryant broke his right foot in the season opener against the New York Giants. The next day he had surgery and missed five games. In October he had a stem cell injection in his foot. The ankle surgery will be a “clean-up” and Bryant should return for the Cowboys offseason program in April, according to ESPN.

"Whenever a player is coming back from an injury there are certain thresholds he must overcome, and we go through that process very thoughtfully with everybody," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "We did that with Dez. Unfortunately, this thing has continued to bother him, both the ankle and the foot, so we'll address those here in the coming days."

Garrett went on to say, “Dez is a really good football player and his presence out there makes a big difference. A lot of people will try to compare players as they were to what maybe where they were at their very best. Dez was a really capable, confident football player this year for us. He had to deal with a lot of different things. We admire how he worked through a lot of different things. Missing the offseason and having a number of different injuries, he didn't get the best opportunity to prepare and play like he normally does and I think that hurt him and ultimately hurt our football team."

Bryant signed a five-year, $70 million contract with the Cowboys in July. He played in just nine games this year due to injuries. He had 31 receptions for 401 yards and three touchdowns this season, according to Fox Sports. This year was Bryant’s least-productive season of his career. Last year he led the NFL with 16 touchdown catches and was a Pro Bowler for the second straight year.

The Cowboys close out the season on Sunday against the Washington Redskins.

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