Your Sunday morning Cowboys news.
Cowboys’ Jerry Jones Not Considering Micah Parsons Trade Amid Contract Hold-In – Julia Stumbaugh, Bleacher Report
Texas Hold Him? Despite Parsons’ shocking demand for a trade, Cowboys owner refusing to give in to Parsons’ request.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said on Saturday that he is not considering moving Micah Parsons despite the Pro Bowl linebacker’s trade request. Jones spoke with reporters about the team’s negotiations with Parsons in a video shared Saturday by Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Clarence Hill of All City DLLS reported in April that the Cowboys had offered Parsons a contract that would set a record for a non-quarterback, but talks had broken down because Parsons’ agent wasn’t included in negotiations.
Jones still expressed confidence in the state of the Cowboys’ relationship with Parsons. “I would say to our fans, don’t lose any sleep over this,” Jones said, per Harris. Parsons announced that he had submitted a trade request to the Cowboys in a post shared Friday on X.
The linebacker wrote that he had asked his agent David Mulugheta to negotiate an extension with the Cowboys ahead of the 2024 season, but that “the team did not want to start any negotiations at that point.” He confirmed that he talked to Jones about his contract in March, at a meeting he said he had not understood to be a formal negotiation.
“Up to today the team has not had a single conversation with my agent about a contract,” Parsons wrote. Jones told reporters on Saturday that Parsons’ trade request is just part of negotiating. “That’s negotiation. I’ve heard that so many times, in my 30 years in the NFL, from not just players but agents… that is old stuff, 30 years of old stuff, some of those issues we’re hearing about trading, hurt backs, all that kind of stuff,” Jones said.
When asked about his meeting with Parsons in March, Jones answered, per DallasCowboys.com’s Tommy Yarrish: “What y’all don’t know is what I offered him, and it’s a hell of a lot more than you think I did. That’s what you don’t know.”
Schotty reacts to Micah’s trade request: ‘We’ve talked’ – Patrik Walker, Dallascowboys.com
Head coach Brian Schottenheimer weighs in on the Parsons issue.
OXNARD, Calif. — Contention has unfortunately pulled up a seat in the ongoing contract talks, or allegedly lack thereof, between the Dallas Cowboys and their all-world pass rusher, Micah Parsons. Evidence of this arrived on Friday, with the impact of a meteor, when Parsons took to social media to announce he’d formally requested a trade.
He went on to detail the events, as he sees them, that led to this point.
Parsons remains in camp at this time and, roughly 24 hours later, head coach Brian Schottenheimer was faced with questions regarding the most glaring early challenge to the establishment of his culture and era and Dallas: a trade request from one of the most popular and productive players in NFL history.
“I’ve talked to Micah,” he said. “I’ve talked to all of our guys. Great conversations. Not going to share with you guys, but good conversations.
“I’m not going to continue to talk about Micah’s contract situation. A lot of great things are going on. I get it. Seriously, you guys have a tough job to do, and you’re gonna get bored with this press conference if we keep asking it. But again, I had great conversations with him. You guys know me, I’m transparent. I talked to all of our guys, always have, always will, and [have] good conversations.”
Parsons drew praise from Schottenheimer for his decision to report to training camp despite the unresolved contract news, especially considering how active the four-time Pro Bowler has been in meetings and on the sidelines in helping to coach up his teammates.
It’s also painfully clear, however, that Parsons wants a resolution as badly as he wants to get back onto the football field, and as badly as Schottenheimer wants to see his best defensive player out there.
“I would hope [he’d still attend practice],” he said of Parsons. “I expect to see him out there today and again, we’ll see about that, but like I said, the conversation and stuff that he and I have had, you know, we talk about a lot of different things and all very positive.”
All-Pro Guard Tyler Smith Could be the Next Cowboys’ Holdout – Mark Heaney, Inside the Star
But wait, there’s more.
The Dallas Cowboys have made contract disputes with their best players a yearly tradition. In 2024, it was Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb; currently, it’s Micah Parsons; next year, it will be All-Pro guard Tyler Smith. This front office regime is stuck in a loop that hurts both their own salary situation and their relationship with the players.
When you wait, and wait, and wait to extend contracts, good young players’ prices skyrocket as the market increases and their accolades stack. This is what happened to every single Cowboy I named over the past two years.
In terms of Smith, Dallas’s first-round pick in 2022, he will enter the final year of his rookie contract next season. Smart teams would extend him before then; the Cowboys likely won’t. Let’s look at the Tyler Smith resume, and what the contract could be when the Cowboys negotiate with him at the last minute in 2026.
Tyler Smith: Blossiming Into Top-Tier, Highest-Paid Guard
When the Cowboys selected the Tulsa guard in 2022, many called it a reach. His tape showed elite traits and flashes of potential, but holes in his actual game. As they’ve done so many times before, Dallas took that framework and built it into an elite guard today.
Smith, 24, has now made back-to-back Pro Bowls, and in 2023 he was named an All-Pro. He has solidified himself as the heir to Zack Martin’s throne. Especially when you add in the youth surrounding him on the offensive line, Smith’s importance doubles, at least. Tyler Guyton, Tyler Booker, and Cooper Beebe will develop seeing Smith as the big dog.
Training camp injuries have turned the Cowboys’ OL into the walking wounded – Brian Martin, Blogging the Boys
The Injuries along the offensive line are starting to take a toll.
The hits keep coming for the Dallas Cowboys offensive line. Thursday afternoon Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith exited practice early with knee soreness – tendinitis, as it seems – and it remains to be seen if he misses any time.
Tyler Smith is the latest Cowboys offensive lineman to come up lame at training camp. Thankfully this doesn’t seem to be anything serious, but will still need to be monitored closely along with the rest of the Cowboys walking wounded injured OL right now.
Smith is simply just the most recent of the Cowboys OL who have sustained some degree of injury since training camp got underway. He joins Terence Steele (ankle), Rob Jones (neck), and Tyler Guyton (knee) in missing some practice time thus far in training camp due to injuries and all will need to be closely monitored. That doesn’t even include some down roster linemen who missed time.
While thankfully none of these injuries have been of the season-ending type, it does raise somewhat of a concern about the cohesiveness of this group and the further development of Guyton. The quicker everyone can get healthy, the better.
Unfortunately, Guyton is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with the fractured bone in his knee and Rob Jones is expected to miss 2-3 months with a broken bone in his neck. Terence Steele however has returned to practice after his ankle injury, which is good news considering Dallas’ OT depth.
If you’re looking for a silver lining to all of these injuries along the Cowboys o-line, with those players sidelined the coaching staff is getting a good look at the depth chart behind them. These extra practice reps will give everybody a better idea of where these backups fit on the depth chart as well as who may or may not stick to the final 53-man roster.
Cowboys’ reunion with La’el Collins an important redemption story – Reid Hanson, Cowboys Wire
Collins next stint with the Cowboys far more relevant than a feel-good story.
Things didn’t end well between La’el Collins and the Dallas Cowboys last go ‘round. After starting 71 of 74 games for the Cowboys between 2015-2021, the team soured on Collins. His commitment to health, fitness and the game fell into question as injuries mounted. Dallas eventually released Collins, and his career never truly recovered. He played 15 games in 2023 marking the last meaningful football he’d play to date.
Once upon a time Collins was a valued member of a stellar Cowboys line. He was a first-round talent who went undrafted after the proximity to an apparent violent crime scared teams away in the 2015 NFL draft. He rebuilt his name and reputation in Dallas then, and now he is getting that same chance at redemption with the Cowboys in 2025.
With injuries ravaging the Cowboys offensive line in training camp, Dallas is in the market for viable offensive lineman at multiple positions Collins was brought in for a workout to hopefully be just that.
After reportedly working with famed offensive line guru Duke Manyweather over the offseason, Collins is said to be back in game shape. At 33, it might be now or never for Collins. It’s been reported the workout went well and Collins is signing with the Cowboys. He has the ability to play inside and outside and could be a solid swing lineman for the Cowboys in the preseason and possibly beyond.
