Former Dallas Cowboys star receiver Dez Bryant wants to get back on the football field quite badly. While he doesn’t believe his playing days are over, he’s not willing to strap the pads on for just any old team to prove it. This became abundantly clear on Wednesday when the pass-catcher announced that him playing in the XFL would “never happen.”

Responding to a tweet showing the odds of former NFL stars such as Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson and Johnny Manziel eventually coming to the NFL, he added people should count him out.

It appears the former Cowboy had made this kind of sentiment clear before, as he had one of the best odds of the group of playing in the new league. Bryant was listed as 33/1 to join the XFL, which kicks off its inaugural season this weekend.

One Twitter user noticed the ferocity with which Bryant proclaimed he wasn’t to play in the NFL and asked the wide receiver just why there were so many people frowning on the new league. Bryant took the diplomatic route in answering saying simply it wasn’t for him.

As The Heavy points out, the reason Bryant isn’t wanting to try out the new league is that he’s still interested in playing in the NFL. More specifically, Dez Bryant is still hoping the Dallas Cowboys will come calling.

Featured image credit: Tom Pennington Getty Images

Last month, the receiver listed the teams he would most like to play on next season and the Cowboys were atop that list. He’s even talked about where he thinks he could fit in on his old team.

Now that tight end Jason Witten is a free agent, Bryant believes he could slide into his spot on the roster and in the starting lineup.

“Give me the role they gave witten.. no shot at witten..let me play with zeke pollard Gallup cooper Cobb jarwin…… think about it.. in the mean time I’m working”

He tweeted out last month.

While some of Bryant’s social media posts come off as kidding around, he’s made it clear he’s deadly serious about rejoining the Cowboys. The receiver talked to SI.com last month as well and talked about he was in the playing shape. He also believes he would perform better than most expect because his former head coach Jason Garrett has been fired.

Bryant and Garrett famously clashed often when both were on the Dallas Cowboys. With Garrett in New York and Jason Witten more than likely moving out as well, Bryant believes the time is right to come back to the NFL.