Blogging The Boys
The pass rusher market could be on the verge of blowing up.
Waiting is a dangerous game. This has become a common theme of discussions we have had involving the Dallas Cowboys in recent years as several of their star players, who happen to play some of the most important and therefore expensive positions in professional football, have come due for contract extensions.
As we sit the Cowboys have Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb under long-term contracts. They got those deals done and if what you care about is the overall end game, then you likely feel unbothered about the way the Cowboys have approached these situations.
But from an economic standpoint the Cowboys have (seemingly) paid much more than they would have if they had shown more proactivity with either Lamb or Prescott (multiple times for him specifically). Consider that they were each eligible for extensions in the 2023 offseason and that Dallas did not jump on either situation. They both turned in fantastic statistical seasons which made negotiating even more difficult from the front office. What’s more is that they allowed players like A.J. Brown, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jared Goff, Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love to get extensions at those positions which served as more hurdles to (seemingly) clear with the representation for their own players.
As predicted by many, we are here again. This time it is Micah Parsons.
We have noted this many times as well, but the Cowboys’ reactivity to Lamb and Prescott kept them busy last offseason and therefore (seemingly) unable to work on a Micah Parsons extension. Getting Parsons done last year, when he was first eligible, would have been wise.
You would figure that this would have led the Cowboys to getting a Parsons deal done as soon as this offseason began. This did not happen. It is now June 10th, the first day of the Cowboys’ mandatory minicamp. To his credit, Parsons has pledged to report and not leverage some sort of holdout situation in a move that is common for players in his situation.
This move is actually so common that it is currently happening with two players who play his position. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals, respectively, are currently dealing with T.J. Watt and Trey Hendrickson holding out.
You may feel like Hendrickson and/or Watt are going about this wrongly. Perhaps you believe, I do at least, that they are not players of Parsons’ caliber at the moment. None of this matters in a black and white sense in an economic world of supply and demand. What matters right now is that Hendrickson, Watt and Parsons all play the same position and all want to get paid which means whoever goes first is (in a theoretical sense) going to get the best deal.
Consider that the Cleveland Browns were on the precipice of this sort of situation with Myles Garrett when the offseason began....
