Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons stresses he doesn’t need to be highest-paid defensive player in NFL

Micah Parsons reiterated that he does not need to be the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL.

They are on the way. They are inevitable.

Soon enough, at long last, this Dallas Cowboys season will end, and while the rest of the NFL moves on to the playoffs and crowing a Super Bowl champion, the Cowboys will be focused on 2025.

It would make sense for the Cowboys to prioritize something very obvious when it comes to their priorities in the offseason, that obvious thing being an extension for Micah Parsons. Last offseason saw the Cowboys notoriously delay extensions that they wound up handing out to both CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott. That they got those extensions done in the eleventh hour, and not as soon as possible, made them as inefficient deals as they possibly could have been. The time to get these kinds of things done is as soon as you can.

Unfortunately the Cowboys squandered that specific opportunity with Parsons as they did not get an extension done during his first offseason eligible (last year). This is why the Cowboys must ensure that they get a Parsons deal done as soon as possible in 2025 and according to Parsons himself, they don’t need to entirely break the bank to do it.

Parsons spoke on Thursday and stressed that he does not need to be the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL. He joked (although it seemed serious, but in a playful way) about only needing as much to have a lake house, so there is some subjectivity involved as to what the bare minimum amount for that would be.

To be frank, it is quite rare to see athletes turn down an opportunity to leverage their position into the most lucrative deals possible. Everything that Parsons said there is a dream of a statement from the front office, a group that would unlikely be as malleable on things as he appears to be.

But maybe Parsons is genuine and really just wants to be a Cowboy and have certain players around him, and wants to do whatever he can to make that possible. To be clear, it is not his job to build a team around him, but if that is going to be his approach then so be it.

On a different note, Parsons was asked about his rooting interests this coming weekend. Parsons is a Penn State alum and they will host SMU in the inaugural round of the College Football Playoff. Obviously SMU is geographically close to him which makes things a bit awkward.

Parsons was also asked if he would be rooting for his hometown (so to speak) team in the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys need the Eagles to beat the Washington Commanders to keep their faint playoff hopes alive, but Parsons had an all-time response when pressed on the matter.

Make this man a Cowboy for life!