The Dallas Cowboys may wear stars on their helmets, but sometimes owner/GM Jerry Jones forgets it's his responsibility to take care of his star players. The fact that the franchise hasn't made meaningful progress on securing Micah Parsons with a long-term contract extension is front office malpractice.
Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News has the report that the Cowboys have not even started contract talks with their dynamic edge rusher. Parsons will be looking to reset the market at his position group; every day Dallas waits to lock him up with a new contract raises the potential price they'll need to pay him.
The Cowboys should have learned their lesson on this front with the Dak Prescott saga. They waited and waited to ink their starting quarterback to a new deal and ended up paying through the nose to keep him in the building. It's clear to see they're headed down the same path with Parsons.
Cowboys clearly haven't learned their lesson with Micah Parsons delay
The obvious party line from the team's front office is that they face a challenge to pay Parsons what he's worth given the big contracts they've previously handed out to other star players. The aforementioned Prescott deal takes up a big chunk of the team's salary cap. No. 1 wide receiver CeeDee Lamb is also one of the highest-paid players in the league at his position.
None of that changes the fact that the Cowboys defense cannot afford to let Parsons leave. His pass rushing ability helps cover up other weaknesses they have on their defensive depth chart. Letting him leave via free agency or even a trade would cause the team's defensive production to plummet. Parsons is not a player Dallas can afford to part with if they have legitimate playoff aspirations in 2025.
One potential out for the Cowboys is to continue to drag their feet and utilize the franchise tag on Parsons if they can't iron out a long-term deal this spring. That's a costly band-aid that could alienate the player, and if that's Jones' strategy, he needs to rethink it.
In the end, the odds still favor Parsons staying in Dallas for the long haul, but the franchise is taking on too much risk by failing to engage him in meaningful contract talks. At some point, this flawed philosophy is going to back fire on the Cowboys.