National Football League

Dez Bryant's $55K rookie dinner included lobsters for appetizers

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 10:51 p.m. ET

foxsports

When Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant said on FOX Sports 1's "Back of the Shop" that he paid for a team dinner costing $55,000 in his rookie season, it caught the attention of some local and national media outlets.

Bryant, who noted in the show that it’s important rookies have an equal amount of respect in the locker room, says he was among some of the other rookies in his draft class that were egregiously taken advantage of – in a form of rookie hazing -- from veterans that evening.

Details of the lavish dinner at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse emerged when former Cowboys wide receiver Jesse Holley joined 105.3 The Fan, which was transcribed via the Dallas Morning News.

On what the team ordered to drink that night:

Holley: "There's one called the Louis XIII Rare Cask. They only have about 50 bottles in the world. Two of them were in Texas. One of them is in Houston and the other one was at Pappas Bros. For one shot, it was $1,300 dollars. It's Cognac. They brought it out in this case where they had to push a button and it opened up illuminating. They had to serve it in white gloves."

On if he could tell Dez Bryant was upset at the dinner:

Holley: "I had left before the actual bill came, but I think everybody got some. I'm not a drinker, but when they said it was $1,300 a shot, I said I'm not missing this opportunity to say I drank something that cost $1,300. It was really, really, really smooth and you don't need much of it to hit you."

On what else the team ordered at dinner:

Holley: "We were ordering $90 Kobe beef steaks. I ordered two of those. I took one home and had steak and eggs for breakfast. Guys had lobster for appetizers. It got carried away. I'm not going to say who did it, but a couple older guys were ordering magnum bottles of Cristal and pouring it in flower pots. A lot of guys got like king size lobsters that were $120. We ordering stuff like that for appetizers. It was an all out feast."

On making Dez Bryant pay the bill:

Holley: "He didn't pay the entire bill. It was split amongst all the rookies."