Sportsnaut
The daily soap opera that is the Dallas Cowboys continues as the contract standoff between All-Pro Micah Parsons and owner Jerry Jones refuses to end.
Both sides believe they are the aggrieved party. Parsons requested a trade last Friday with negotiations for a new deal at a standstill. In a social media post, the four-time Pro Bowler says he instructed Jones to talk to his agent, David Mulugheta, to get a deal done. For his part, Jones said he thought he had a deal with Parsons in place when he spoke to the player personally, without the agent’s presence and with nothing in writing.
Thank you Dallas 🦁👑 🙏🏾! I pic.twitter.com/EUnEj9uRUt
— Micah Parsons (@MicahhParsons11) August 1, 2025
However, as much as Jones has been dragged through the mud for this latest contract escapade — and rightfully so — Parsons deserves blame as well.
As The Athletic’s NFL senior writer Mike Silver points out, if Parsons was as perturbed as he seemed in his social media post, he never should’ve reported to training camp, which essentially backed him into a corner.
“Once Parsons showed up, under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and NFLPA, his leverage shrank and his options became limited,” Silver notes. “Now, if Parsons were to leave camp in protest, the Cowboys could send him a ‘five-day letter’ — giving them the right to put him on the reserve/left squad list if he doesn’t return within five days. Once placed on that list, a player is shut down for the season, without pay, and his contract tolls to the following year.”
If Parsons hadn’t reported to training camp, he would’ve received fines of up to $40,000 per day and $1.33 million for each preseason game missed. But those fines would’ve been wiped out once he reached a new deal.
While Parsons has attended training camp and participated in walk-throughs, he hasn’t taken part in any drills.
In his first four seasons in Dallas, Parsons has recorded 52.5 sacks, was named first-team All-Pro twice and was voted the Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2021.
Parsons is entering the final year of his rookie deal that pays him $24 million this season. If the Cowboys can’t reach a deal with him and don’t trade him, they could franchise tag him for the 2026 season, and possibly again for 2027.
Since Jones refuses to offer extensions to players until it’s too late — like with Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb — he’s costing the team tens of millions of dollars that could be used for other positions. If Dallas does reach a deal with Parsons, it will most likely be in the range of T.J. Watt’s extension with the Pittsburgh Steelers that pays him $41 million annually for the next three years, making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in football.
More must-reads:
