ESPN said what we are all thinking relative to a pending Micah Parsons extension for the Cowboys.
Promptness has not exactly been a thing for the Dallas Cowboys as of late. Think back on all of the major, big-time extensions that they have brokered in recent memory. While there are examples of them getting ahead of the curve (Trevon Diggs is the most recent), the 2024 calendar year served as almost a daily reminder of their unwillingness to do so again as they took things down to the eleventh hour with both CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott. Remember that the former held out through training camp and that the latter had his deal done on literally the day that the season began.
Dragging feet cost the Cowboys an opportunity to be aggressive in free agency last year and what’s more is they dragged some of it into this year as well. Last year should have been when the Cowboys jumped on an extension for Micah Parsons as it was the first offseason in which he was eligible for one, but the team barely got over the finish line with Lamb and Prescott and decided to put off work on Parsons as a problem for their future selves.
Welcome to the future. The problem is here.
There is absolutely no reason for the Cowboys to not get a Micah Parsons extension done ASAP
Whether or not you were a proponent for extending Lamb and/or Prescott last year, the logic behind advocating for it to happen as soon as possible was what mattered the most. If you know/believe you are going to extend a player, then history overwhelmingly tells us that the sooner you get it done the better.
Last year saw several other wide receivers and quarterbacks get paid before Lamb and Prescott which drove the market price higher than it was when the offseason began. Understanding this basic principle and living within the confines of it is a necessary thing for NFL teams or people who operate in the world at large.
This is why it would have made sense for the Cowboys to get an extension done with Parsons last year. In not doing so, the Cowboys allowed for the market to rise in a general sense, but if they wait even longer they could see extensions happen for Myles Garrett, Maxx Crosby and/or Trey Hendrickson which would have the same impact on Parsons as other deals had on Lamb and Prescott.
What’s more, there is enormous incentive for the Cowboys to get something done with Parsons – as there was with Lamb and Prescott – as it will lower his cap number for this year and therefore allow the team more financial flexibility to add to the roster (something Parsons wants to see the Cowboys do in aggressive fashion).
ESPN put it well recently in noting that there is literally no reason why this should not happen as soon as possible (even though the team did burn last year as noted).
Dallas Cowboys
Do the Cowboys have the ability to extend Micah Parsons right now, or are other dominoes going to fall first?
Let’s be clear: The Cowboys absolutely have the ability to extend Parsons whenever they want. There’s no salary cap reason they can’t do this. Parsons is heading into his fifth-year option season, which means his salary and cap number for 2025 are both $24.007 million. An extension — which will likely come with a massive signing bonus and drop his 2025 salary to the veteran minimum — will actually create a ton of cap room for Dallas, which is going to have to restructure the Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb contracts for cap space whether they get a Parsons deal done or not.
Parsons — who has at least a dozen sacks in each of his four seasons — might end up being the highest-paid defensive player in the league. But as you might have noticed from reading this, that can be said about two or three other players, too. So the Cowboys would be wise to do this deal as soon as possible. That’s just not the way they’ve managed these things in recent years.
It is important to keep this entire blurb in mind in the coming weeks, especially if the Cowboys do not get a Parsons deal done. As noted:
- They have the ability to do it whenever they want
- Doing so will create salary cap space in the now
- This is the lowest the price will conceivably/practically be relative to the market
- As with Lamb and Prescott (which the blurb notes), it will become a fountain they can draw salary cap space from in the future
We could go even further here and note that getting an extension done with Parsons also establishes goodwill with the best player on the team, and serves as a point of encouragement for other players on the roster that playing well leads to a big payday with the team. Establishing that level of trust in the organization from the players is never a bad thing, but this point is a bit less objective than the ones we listed out.
Ultimately, once again, the point remains that assuming the Dallas Cowboys plan on giving Micah Parsons an extension at any point in the future then doing so immediately is the best way to go about it. You can argue that there should even be a point of no return where you establish that you are willing to live with the consequences of not getting a deal done, maybe the team should have had this with Lamb or Prescott as doing their deals at the last second was quite literally the most inefficient way of doing so, but players of Parsons’ caliber don’t just come around all of the time.
Get it done, Cowboys. Enough with the silly games.
