DIAMOND DEZ DEAL DONE: Dallas Cowboys secure X-Factor with new five-year contract | Dez Bryant tags franchise with $70 million deal | Deadline Day Deal Drama in Big D

IRVING, Texas – Dez Bryant will be a Dallas Cowboy for years to come.

Bryant and the Cowboys finalized a multi-year contract this afternoon, just prior to the NFL’s July 15 deadline to sign player designated with the franchise tag.

The deal is worth roughly $70 million over five years, with $45 million guaranteed. Dez gets a $20 million signing bonus, $23 million guaranteed upon signing his deal and the rest of his $45 million in guarantees next March.

It’s close to the $16 million per year earned by Detroit’s Calvin Johnson, Bryant’s $14 million average per season exceeds the $12.82 million he would have made in 2015 by signing his franchise tag that represents the average of the NFL’s five highest wide receiver salaries.

Bryant’s signing concluded a long, protracted negotiation spanning several months. Multiple times, a deal appeared close but wasn’t completed.

Talks quieted in the spring, and without a signed franchise-tag tender, Bryant chose to skip the team’s voluntary offseason program and organized team activities. He stopped by Valley Ranch periodically to work out or visit with players and staff, and he participated in individual drills during one of the nine OTAs.

On the final day of the team’s mandatory minicamp, Bryant – who wasn’t required to show up because he wasn’t under contract – watched practice and had a long discussion on the AT&T Stadium sideline with team owner/general manager Jerry Jones.

Despite the apparent goodwill on both sides, there have been potential trouble signs: reports in mid-June and a declaration from Bryant’s Twitter account Monday that he’d be willing to hold out if the sides couldn’t strike a deal by Wednesday’s deadline.

Bryant certainly has earned it. The 24^th pick in the 2010 draft, he’s become the emotional leader of a playoff roster and a perennial All-Pro at his position. In 2014 he set a single-season club record with 16 touchdown catches and topped 1,000 yards (1,320) for the third time in his five-year career.

In 75 career games, Bryant ranks seventh in team history with 381 catches and 56 touchdowns, and in 2015 he conceivably could move as high as third all-time in catches behind only Jason Witten (943) and Michael Irvin (750). Drew Pearson, currently in third place, has 489.

Bryant led the Cowboys last season with 88 catches and nearly had one of the most memorable in team history in the final minutes of the team’s Divisional Round playoff loss to Green Bay. With the Cowboys trailing 26-20 on fourth down, officials concluded Bryant did not maintain full possession throughout the process as he stretched for the goal line.

Though technically ruled incomplete, the infamous play has actually grown Bryant’s legend, with #DezCaughtIt still a trendy social media hashtag from heartbroken Dallas Cowboys fans months later.

One hurdle in the contract negotiations was the financial gap between the two highest-paid receivers, Detroit’s Calvin Johnson and Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald, and the rest of the league. Several other top wideouts – Denver’s Demaryius Thomas, Atlanta’s Julio Jones and Cincinnati’s A.J. Green – are also looking for long-term deals at some point, but no one had reset the market for the position.

“I do have a good relationship with Dez,” Jones said during minicamp. “I know that he like the Cowboys want him to be a Cowboy all of his playing career.

“We value him. Other than Dez, nobody is prouder of his accomplishments.”

This is a long-term deal that will validate Bryant’s place among the NFL’s elite. As rugged and talented at the point of catch as any receiver around, Bryant has pumped out three straight 1,200-plus-yard campaigns despite constant double teams. There is zero question about the fire Bryant brings to the field.