What is it with professional athletes and trashing rental houses these days?

Earlier this year, it was troubled ex-NFL quarterback Johnny Manziel being sued after trashing a short-term rental house in the Los Angeles area.

Now it’s current Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant facing a similar fate after allegedly refusing to pay for upwards of $60,000 in damages to a house he had rented in DeSoto, Texas since 2013. The report from the Dallas Morning News indicates that severe damage was done to flooring, windows, walls, and just about anything else you can imagine.

Making matters worse, Bryant was renting from Texas state Senator Royce West, who was at one time part of a small group looking to help keep Bryant on the straight and narrow and his attorney as well.

Attorneys for West claim that all the damage was done while Bryant was renting the home, up until this past January when Bryant abruptly ended the lease early.

Court papers state that the house was in such bad shape that West hasn’t been able to rent out the home since.

West discovered the 6,400-square-foot home “littered with trash and feces, missing blinds and shutters, with cracked windows and blackened carpeting” after Bryant moved out in January, and his lawyers say Bryant refuses to accept responsibility for the damage.

According to court filings, West is seeking between $100,000 and $200,000 in damages, which includes not only the $60,000 in physical damages, but also total repair costs and lost revenue.

Bryant refused to speak on the matter, per his agent’s office.

Court documents include pictures of the state of the house, such as blackened carpeting all throughout the home, animal feces all over the place, and broken windows with torn blinds.

Reports also indicate that as many as 10 different people were living at the rental property at any given time, and there were rumors of a Capuchin Monkey also living with Bryant (although local police found no evidence of that being the case during a brief investigation).

[Dallas Morning News]

About Andrew Coppens

Andy is a contributor to The Comeback as well as Publisher of Big Ten site talking10. He also is a member of the FWAA and has been covering college sports since 2011. Andy is an avid soccer fan and runs the Celtic FC site The Celtic Bhoys. If he's not writing about sports, you can find him enjoying them in front of the TV with a good beer!