Why Drag Things Any Longer With Micah Parsons?
There's no way to sugarcoat it: The Dallas Cowboys screwed this one up.
If there's one contract saga in which it's hard to figure out what's going on with the team, it would be the Dallas Cowboys with Micah Parsons. The 2021 first-round pick has proven himself to be an elite player and, yet, the Cowboys haven't gotten an extension done.
And while the talks have continued, multiple edge rushers have received extensions which re-set the market in key aspects. Myles Garrett, Danielle Hunter, Maxx Crosby and T.J. Watt all got paid considerable sums this year.
The result is Parsons is now in position to ask for more money than he might have received otherwise had he been extended a year ago. At the time, Nick Bosa had the most lucrative contract among edge rushers and, while players such as Brian Burns and Josh Hines-Allen got paid well, neither surpassed Bosa.
Why it's taking the Cowboys so long to get a deal done with Parsons is a mystery. It's true that Parsons missed a few games in 2024, but he's played a full season's worth of games otherwise. He's not a player that could be called "injury prone." Furthermore, he's established himself as a top pass rusher, with at least 40 pressures and at least 10 sacks in each of his four seasons.
Parsons is the type of player who plenty of teams would have extended back in 2024 (the first year he was eligible for an extension) not simply because they want to avoid paying more than the next team, but because he has proved himself.
Jason Fitzgerald went over some information about the highest-paid players at each position and the percentage who either got the franchise tag or signed extensions with their current teams. Even after focusing solely on players who were drafted by their current team, the odds are good that edge rushers will prove themselves worth extending.
And in the Cowboys' case, we are not talking about a team that is rebuilding. In the case of Parsons, we are not talking about an older veteran who is in line for the third contract of his career.
It's easy to point to other decisions the Cowboys have made and say those decisions prevent them from extending Parsons. Dak Prescott is getting a lot of money but that alone should not prevent the Cowboys from paying Parsons.
While Trevon Diggs has never reached the interception tally he had 2021, he has still been a productive player. The Cowboys did pay him a considerable amount in his 2023 extension and, while he missed the bulk of 2023 and a few games in 2024 because of injury, it's not like he went from a standout to mediocrity.
If cap space in 2026 is a concern, the Cowboys would be in position to move on from Diggs if they had no other choice. They could also get some cap relief by releasing Malik Hooker and extending Tyler Smith, who enters the fifth-year option of his rookie deal.
If the Cowboys truly believe they will not be able to extend Parsons, they would find plenty of takers if they decided to trade him. And if it did come to that, the Cowboys would be in position to ask for a deal similar to the one the Bears made when they traded for Khalil Mack back in 2018. The Bears had to give up two firsts as part of the package, so the Cowboys should expect the same if they did decide to trade Parsons.
Of course, there's no guarantee the Cowboys will trade Parsons and, furthermore, I don't believe they should do that. But the point is that teams would line up to get Parsons if he became available.
Given that I don't believe Parsons should be traded, that brings us back to the question: Why drag this out? Parsons has shown up to training camp and isn't becoming a distraction, but the reality is that the market for top edge rushers has taken off. That means Parsons' asking price has gone up.
The Parsons saga is an example about why teams need to be careful not to let contract negotiations drag for too long, particularly with a younger player who ranks among the best at his position.
One can point to the Cowboys not being the only team dragging things out. The Bengals have yet to agree to terms with Trey Hendrickson on an extension, for example. But while I'm not a fan about how the Bengals sometimes approach contract talks, they can at least argue that Hendrickson is an older player and it's worth asking when decline hits.
That's not the case with Parsons — he's in the prime of his career. Furthermore, he's not a one-dimensional player, he's not the type to take plays off and he doesn't have a significant injury history.
Parsons is the type of player who you can build a defense around. By not getting an elite player like Parsons extended, the Cowboys just made things worse for themselves.