Veterans T.J. Watt, Trey Hendrickson holding out puts pressure on Cowboys for Micah Parsons deal

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.

The veteran pass rusher market could be on the verge of growing significantly

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. They took care of business and got a new deal done with him, one that will likely serve as a discussion point for each of these three players and their representations with their respective teams.

Garrett landed a four-year deal from Cleveland, one that was worth $40M per year. It made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL. This benchmark was surpassed just a few months later (as is always the case in the NFL) by Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase. You will recall that the Bengals tried to wait things out with Chase as he was the lone big-time receiver who the Cowboys got the CeeDee Lamb deal done ahead of.

The Bengals and Cowboys occupy the same space in this sense in that they also waited for Chase as mentioned and are clearly waiting or something-ing for Hendrickson. It is a bit convenient to sweep all conversations of this variety under the rug of “the price always goes up”, but the evidence is pretty overwhelming at this point.

There probably isn’t a single person among us who believes that Micah Parsons will be playing for any team other than the Cowboys for the foreseeable future. That doesn’t seem to be up for debate.

But the inevitability of that which we all share isn’t some reason for the front office to drag their feet on getting a deal done. By brokering these as soon as possible you (not always, but more often than not) save in the long run as opposed to waiting until the eleventh hour. This sequence allows you to have all the more money for other opportunities.