Buffalo Rumblings
Dallas Cowboys star pass rusher Micah Parsons formally requested a trade a few days ago, announcing on social media that he “no longer wants to be” in Dallas. He has not partaken in the Cowboys’ practices during this summer’s training camp.
Not long after, Buffalo Bills running back James Cook decided to stand on “business” (a word he repeatedly used to describe his lack of involvement in practice) by literally standing on the sideline while the remainder of his healthy teammates prepared for the team’s first preseason game against the New York Giants.
At first glance, the hold-ins of Parsons and Cook may not appear to be connected in any way apart from the fact that they both exist. The players don’t share a position, a side of the ball, or even an agent. But as the natural questions that arise from the Parsons hold out come up, we find that the two players’ situations may have more in common than originally thought.
There are three major questions that originate from any conversation around a potentially high-priced trade acquisition:
Everyone who wants to opine on the situation opines on these three items, often in concert.
Immediately after Parsons’ trade request was posted on social media, the question for almost every NFL fan base was “would you trade for Parsons?” The answer for essentially anyone who roots for their team playing good football was a resounding “yes,” followed by a conversation on what it would hypothetically cost. For a team that has consistently been let down by its defensive performance in the playoffs, most of Bills Mafia was aligned in saying they would love to have a player like Parsons on their team, even if the cost was very high.
The next logical question that pops up is “what would it cost.” Here’s where the Cook and Parsons situations start to connect. The Bills need a pass rusher. Many were shocked that the Cowboys waited until the fifth round to get a running back in the draft given their perceived need at the position.
It doesn’t take much connecting of the dots to begin seeing any hypothetical Bills offer to the Cowboys potentially including Cook. If the Cowboys aren’t willing to pay Parsons $40 million-plus per season, maybe they’d be more willing to meet James Cook’s $15 milion-plus average annual value demand.
The last question is one of feasibility. If a team has the desire to make the move and a desire to pay the necessary price, all of that is moot if they cannot feasibly make the finances work. The NFL salary cap is a highly flexible item, but it has its limits.
The truth is that neither Cook nor Parsons are likely to get moved. Players of Parson’s caliber rarely ever get moved even if their relationship with the team is seemingly strained. Cleveland Browns future Hall of Famer Myles Garrett changed...
