Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones has unique take on Micah Parsons contract
But the Joneses, who own the Cowboys, have proven to be tough negotiators.
Cowboys ownership has heard the recent cries from fans to pay Parsons as the edge rusher voices his desire for an extension. However, the team appears to be committed to securing a deal on its terms.
"We want to pay Micah too. He's got to want to be paid," Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones told reporters at Cowboys training camp over the weekend.
Jones' comment insinuates that the team has made an offer (or several) to Parsons this offseason. The edge rusher just hasn't agreed to any of them yet.
Parsons is one of two star pass-rushers still embroiled in a contract standoff with his team – the other being Trey Hendrickson of the Cincinnati Bengals. Both players are looking to cash in on multiple successful seasons they've accumulated under their current contracts before entering the final year of those active deals.
Pressure has mounted on both Dallas and Cincinnati as other star edge rushers around the league got paid earlier this offseason: Maxx Crosby, Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt all received massive extensions from their respective teams.
"I will never understand it," Parsons said in a recent interview with WWE wrestler Mark Calaway, better known as The Undertaker. "We wanted to do the contract last year – then you go out there and perform again. You would think, 'All right, we'll get it done early, we know some guys are about to get re-paid.' There's Myles [Garrett], Maxx [Crosby] is going, so you would think, 'Hey, let's get ahead of that.'
"You can't want us to take less (now) because you're the one that decided to wait."
Though Hendrickson has held out of all Bengals offseason activities, Parsons has attended all mandatory team events so far.
Parsons is a four-time Pro Bowler and a two-time member of the All-Pro first team. He's tallied 52.5 sacks and 256 tackles over his four-year NFL career, along with nine forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries.
The Penn State product has played in all but five games in his career: he sat out an inconsequential Week 18 game in his rookie season, and he missed four games last year with a high ankle sprain.
Parsons is set to play on a fifth-year option in 2025, the final season of the original rookie contract he signed in 2021.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Micah Parsons fallout: Jerry Jones' contract tactics with star players once again bites the Cowboys
In recent years, when Dallas Cowboys ownership was trying to negotiate a contract extension with one of the team's star players, an agent in the middle of the process reached a boiling point. Talks were at a difficult standstill, team owner Jerry Jones and son Stephen were renewing efforts to engage the player in a private meeting, and the agent had enough. So they picked up a phone and delivered a message directly to the Joneses. 'Stop trying to talk to my player without me.' Inside the agent community, this has been a familiar story. For years, player representatives have complained behind the scenes about how the Cowboys continue to go about their business in high-stakes negotiations. In drawn out contact talks, the furor has often been a climbing scale, beginning with general annoyance, transitioning to heated or passive-aggressive exchanges. In the worst cases, it has resulted in breaking off talks for long periods of time. Often, the familiar decay in negotiations shared an underlying theme inside the agent community, with representatives alleging that Jerry Jones had a history of attempting to manipulate players into discounted deals. First by isolating them in a face-to-face meeting without an agent present — sometimes under the guise of discussing something other than contract talks — then by pouring honey into their ear about being a lifelong member of the Cowboys, staying part of the Dallas family and sacrificing a little financially to win Super Bowl immorality together. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] Sometimes, it was an alleged sideswipe tactic that remained tucked behind a curtain of secrecy, with both sides choosing to keep any rising animus private. Other times, it seeped out in telltale moments that are likely still fresh in the minds of Cowboys fans. Moments like quarterback Dak Prescott repeatedly and publicly putting his agent, Todd France, front and center as the conduit who would complete his last two drawn-out — and sometimes prickly — contract extensions. Or the representatives of former running back Zeke Elliott not only holding him out of training camp in 2019, but moving him to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico so he could train and more easily remain out of direct communications with the Jones family. Those were two of the higher profile instances of star Cowboys players trying to keep their contract negations in the hands of their agents in an effort to realize their full value as players. But there have been others, too. What there hasn't been up to this point, is a star player willing to step out and directly challenge the way Dallas and Jerry do business. That is, until Friday, when edge rusher Micah Parsons laid his lengthy concerns bare on social media, requesting a trade and stating that he no longer wanted to be a part of the Cowboys. Within it, there was one cutting line that has been a siren scream inside the player and agent ranks: 'I no longer want to be held to close door negotiations without my agent present.' That line was a reference to a March meeting between Parsons and Jerry Jones that ultimately left the Cowboys owner feeling as if he had directly negotiated a new extension with his pass rusher. Parsons then went on to spell out some previously untold aspects of that meeting. 'In March I met with Mr. Jones to talk about leadership,' Parsons wrote on social media. 'Somehow the conversation turned into him talk contract with me. Yes I engaged in a back and forth in regards to what I wanted from my contract, but at no point did I believe this was supposed to be a formal negotiation and I informed Mr. Jones afterward my agent would reach out thinking this would get things done. But when my agent reached out and spoke to [senior director of salary cap and player contracts Adam Prasifka] he was told the deal was pretty much already done. My agent of course told him that wasn't the case and also reached out to Stephen Jones. Again the team decided to go silent.' [Get more Cowboys news: Cowboys team feed] Parsons said it was at that point he and his agent, David Mulugheta of Athletes First, made the decision to let the Cowboys reach out when they were ready to do a deal. According to Parsons, 'Up to [Friday], the team has not had a single conversation with my agent about a contract.' For Cowboys fans and the franchise in general, the post by Parsons is an earthquake of significant magnitude. It's the first time a star player has been this expansive about a problem that agents and players have complained about for a while: A penchant to cut agents out of the process and try to cut deals directly with players using tactics or criteria that clearly are meant to create a negotiating advantage for the team. This despite Parsons saying on more than once occasion that he wanted Mulugheta to play a role in negotiating his extension. In the past, Dallas has honored those requests in the midst of bank-breaking talks with the likes of Prescott, Elliott, CeeDee Lamb and others. For reasons that only the Jones family can speak to, it appears they are refusing to honor it with Parsons. It's a reality that Jerry all but said directly in July, when he suggested that he had an agreement in place between himself and Parsons. 'I'm really not going to get into responding to what Micah said I said, or what [Micah] said he said, or what Mulugheta said, or what Stephen said,' Jerry insisted. 'I'm not getting into any of that at all. We're where we are. I sign the check. Period. … Micah, he's confident in himself, he should be, he's extraordinarily bright — I can't emphasize that enough. He's very capable of negotiating anything he wants to negotiate.' In the agent community, that smacks of a my-way-or-the-highway stance. And it's how you get to the point of pushing negotiations off the table completely — only to be replaced with a trade demand. Right now, it appears that's exactly what has transpired inside Dallas. But rather than the end of this story being a record-breaking deal that heals all wounds — as has been the case in so many other acidic contract talks for Jerry Jones and Dallas — it appears the only thing broken is the resolve of Micah Parsons to remain a Cowboy.
USA Today
18 minutes ago
- USA Today
All Pro EDGE Micah Parsons demands trade from Cowboys and Raiders lead odds to get him
Today LB Micah Parsons dropped a bombshell on the Cowboys. Making it very clear he has had it with Jerry Jones's games and no longer wants to play for the team. With no ambiguity, he demanded a trade. Of course, there are 31 other teams who would say 'yes, please' to getting the two-time All Pro and former AP Defensive Rookie of the Year. He's just 26 years of age, has four Pro Bowls in four seasons, and 52.5 career sacks. He is as consistent as they come in his elite play. But though every team would want him, not all of them can afford him. Or have a large enough need to make that move. The Raiders are one of the teams that fits both. They could absolutely use him and have the money to make it happen. Which is probably why Bovada has the Raiders leading the odds to land him. This offseason the Raiders made Maxx Crosby the league's highest paid non-QB on a three-year extension. They also re-signed Malcolm Koonce to a one-year deal to start on the other side. But other than those two, they don't have much. And Koonce, though he earned the starting job last season before he was injured still has to prove he can do be the long term answer across from Crosby. Though Parsons said in his farewell/trade demand that he went to the Cowboys several times ahead of other edge rushers getting their deals and didn't care if that meant he was leaving money on the table. But that doesn't mean he would take a deal for less than them now. So, if the Raiders did somehow swing a deal to get Parsons to Las Vegas, it's possible they would be making two edge rushers the richest at their position in the same offseason. That would be something.
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Cowboys take stance following Micah Parsons' trade demand
Micah Parsons has made his desire to be traded from the Cowboys abundantly clear, but the team's front office has no plans to make that wish come true. Shortly after Parsons announced his trade request with a lengthy statement on X Friday, The Athletic's Dianna Russini reported that the Cowboys have 'no intention' to trade the superstar defensive end. Russini added that teams around the NFL are planning to check in with Dallas about Parsons' potential availability nonetheless. Advertisement Micah Parsons has requested a trade from the Cowboys. Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Parsons, a 26-year-old widely regarded as one of the best defensive players in football, has been in a contract dispute with the Cowboys throughout the offseason. The four-time Pro-Bowler, entering the fifth and final season of his rookie contract, would make $24 million in 2025 if he were to play for Dallas without signing the massive extension he is due for. Advertisement In his statement, Parsons said he personally submitted his trade request to Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones on Friday. 'Unfortunately I no longer want to be here,' Parsons wrote. 'I no longer want to be held to close door negotiations without my agent present. I no longer want shots taken at me for getting injured while laying it on the line for the organization our fans and my teammates… I have made a tough decision I no longer want to play for the Dallas Cowboys.' Kirby Lee-Imagn Images The Penn State product said he had an informal conversation about leadership with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in March, which turned into a discussion about Parsons' new contract. Advertisement Parsons said he explained what he hoped to receive in his new contract and told Jones his agent would be in touch, then ending the meeting. 'In March, I met with Mr. Jones to talk about leadership,' Parsons said. 'Somehow the conversation turned into him talking contract with me. Yes I engaged in a back and forth in regards to what I wanted from my contract, but at no point did I believe this was supposed to be a formal negotiation and I informed Mr. Jones afterward my agent would reach out thinking this would get things done. 'But when my agent reached out and spoke to (ESPN's) Adam (Schefter) he was told the deal was pretty much already done. My agent of course told him that wasn't the case and also reached out to Stephen Jones. Again the team decided to go silent.' The Cowboys open the season on the road against the Eagles on Sept. 4.
