Dez Bryant and the Dallas Cowboys have been in contract negotiations for a deal that will keep the star wide receiver with the franchise for a long time. So far, nothing has come from the contract talks, which led to the team's decision to place the franchise tag on Bryant on Monday.

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There has been widespread speculation that the team was dragging its feet on an extension with Bryant due to the rumors about a video that allegedly shows Bryant committing some kind of criminal act that was far worse than what Ray Rice did. However, there is still no proof that the video actually exists.

The owners of the video reportedly sent screenshots to several media outlets last week, and they were even rumored to be in negotiations over the video's release. Bryant's team was also trying to buy the video, and a deadline for release has come and gone.

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So what happened to the video? Perhaps it never actually existed, which was a claim some made over the past few weeks, and those assertions have gotten louder in recent days.

If someone was trying to extort Dez, as he and his family claimed, then they would likely have released the video when it became clear that he would not pay their desired sum.

If someone was simply concerned about ruining Bryant's career or bringing to light that he is a criminal, they would likely have released the video already.

So while numerous sources have maintained that the video does exist, the empirical evidence that it is just a myth is getting hard to ignore. Obviously one cannot prove a negative, but at this point, it looks like the media storm over the Dez Bryant video was at least premature, if not entirely unnecessary.

The most telling sign about whether the video exists or not may be the status of Bryant's contract. The Cowboys allegedly knew of the video's existence, though it is unclear whether they (or anyone) had seen it. If that was the reason they franchised Bryant instead of extending him, then a long-term deal for the star wideout in the coming weeks could signal that the video rumors were nothing to be concerned over in the first place.