Bryant's in the clear, Witten confused by Cooley's comments on Romo. (US PRESSWIRE)

Posted by Ryan Wilson

Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant had a busy offseason, what with the saggy pants saga, the unpaid debts and the public renouncements from one-time mentors.  Finally, some good news: Bryant, who apparently failed a drug test during training camp, reportedly has been cleared by the NFL "due to the technicality of not having proper identification," a source tells the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Clarence Hill.

More details:

Rookie running back DeMarco Murray is the process of clearing his name after getting caught in the same snafu during camp. “One has been cleared, and one is pending,” a source said. “You have to have your driver's license with you or some type of government ID. They didn’t have their IDs. Dez has been cleared. That is my understanding, and the other [Murray] is in the process of being cleared.”

It gets better: Bryant practiced throughout the Cowboys' bye week and should be ready to go when the team faces New England on Sunday. Also ready to go: quarterback Tony Romo, who will take a pain-killing shot and wear a Kevlar vest to protect a broken rib.

This Sunday, The Dallas Cowboys look will travel to Gillette Stadium to square off against the New England Patriots. Join Jason Horowitz and NFL.com's Pat Kirwan as they go inside the numbers to break down this matchup.

"I'm feeling better," Romo said, according to the Dallas Morning News. "Every week that goes by gets better and better. Hopefully in about a couple of weeks it'll be back to normal. Until then we have to do some little things to get over it."

Despite the progress, Romo continues to have doubters, even when he's not playing. And this comes a week after Redskins tight end Chris Cooley took great pleasure in Romo's choke job against the Lions in Week 4 (if it somehow wasn't obvious, Cooley was joking).

In related news, Cowboys tight end Jason Witten was asked recently about Cooley's comments on his teammate, his quarterback.

“My granddad taught me when I was younger if you don’t have anything good to say don’t say anything at all," Witten said during an appearance on KTCK in Dallas (via SportsRadioInterviews.com). "I probably shouldn’t say anything. I don’t get that one. I really don’t. Chris has been a good player for a long time. To get to that point I don’t see why that came up. Hey look you can’t worry about that. Trust me. I know Tony doesn’t. That doesn’t affect him at all. It’s disappointing to see in some ways, but hey look it is part of the game and Chris has been a great player in this league for a long time. It’s disappointing to see him say that. That’s part of it.”

If Witten didn't get that, we wonder if he's seen this from a few years ago:


Witten does say "We’ve hung out a few times and been to the Pro Bowl a couple of times together. He’s a nice guy and has a funny personality." But clearly, they have different ideas of what constitutes funny.

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