Cowboys have paid big for Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb. Now attention turns to Micah Parsons

There was the snap where Micah Parsons ran unblocked from the left edge, and then the snap when he shed multiple blockers en route to a sack of Deshaun Watson.

There was the snap when Parsons lined up from the right and engaged then disengaged with backup left tackle James Hudson III en route to chasing Watson down in the backfield. And then the snap where Parsons collided with Watson just as he threw a pass that would land short of its intended receiver, Amari Cooper.

Only after these four pressures did the Cowboys and Cleveland Browns head to the locker room at halftime, the Browns trailing by 17 as they managed just one first down.

In Dallas’ 33-17 Week 1 win at Cleveland, Parsons ultimately generated nine pressures and one sack on Watson, with a 0.69-second get-off, per NFL Next Gen Stats, whose data considers 0.88 seconds “average.”

In short: Parsons dominated the game.

And thus fans asked: When, and from whom, will the 2020 first-rounder’s payday come?

Parsons is entering the fourth year of his rookie deal, the final “cheap” year before his fifth-year option raises his salary by a multiple greater than seven. Afterward, the two-time All Pro is expected to earn a hefty contract that likely resets the edge rusher market.

But the Cowboys complicated that plan in recent weeks as they signed two players to top-of-market deals or close.

Will the Cowboys be able to pay Parsons after awarding receiver CeeDee Lamb an extension worth $34 million a year and quarterback Dak Prescott a deal averaging a whopping $60 million?

Yahoo Sports asked league sources how they’d handle the balancing act.

Team owner Jerry Jones fielded a question about his pocketbook’s future, too, during his Tuesday radio interview with Dallas’ 105.3 The Fan.

“Is Micah next?” the radio host asked. “Is he up now?”

Jones laughed.

“Obviously, he had a great game out there Sunday and he’s an integral part of our team’s future,” Jones said. “We’ll see where we go.”

Cowboys’ best road to extending Parsons

Two league executives and a third source who has negotiated top-of-market NFL contracts agreed: The salary cap will not prevent the Cowboys from signing Parsons to a mammoth second contract.

Teams run into financial barriers more often due to cash than cap considerations, and the Cowboys have the cash flow necessary to fund Parsons’ extension.

So the question is not whether extending Parsons is possible, but whether extending him is preferable — and if so, in what structure.

Sources agreed that paying Parsons anything below market value is unrealistic at this point. Entering the 2023 season, the San Francisco 49ers awarded Nick Bosa an extension averaging $34 million a year with $122.5 million guaranteed. Consider the floor for Parson’s deal just above that. The sooner he’s paid, the less his employer will have to adjust for market inflation.

Is there a scenario in which the Cowboys shouldn’t pay Parsons?

Parsons’ on-field play says pay him. Even as his production has proven inconsistent between games and scheme matchups, and dipped in the playoffs, his output ranked among the league’s best defenders last season.

Parsons generated the most pressures (99) and second-highest pressure rate (21.4%) among players who rushed the passer at least 300 times, per Next Gen Stats. Parsons’ speed off the line contributed heavily to that as his 2.31-second time to pressure paced the entire league.

Only two defenders last season generated at least 50 “quick pressures,” or pressures within the first 2.5 seconds of a pass play. Parsons’ 62 separated him from Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett’s 54.

Pro Football Focus has graded Parsons as the second-best edge defender each of the past two years.

He said Sunday in the postgame locker room that he’ll focus on his play more than his contract.

“I just got to keep doing what I'm doing, keep working, keep trying to be the best player I can be,” Parsons said. “Keep trying to win championships and then they’ll probably throw me a little something on the side.”

That mindset is something an NFC executive said they’d be asking themselves before signing Parsons to that deal, even in light of his massive impact.

“Do you trust Micah?” the executive, who has negotiated a top defender’s deal before, said. “I think that’s a question everybody always asks before you do any of these major deals: What happens to the player once they are paid?

“You don't always have to pay [only] leaders, but it's also one of those things: The locker room knows. So if you pay the wrong guy in the locker room, it's really hard to come back from.”

If the Cowboys do award Parsons a deal worth at least $35 million per year, signing him before 2025 gives them a year at $21 million (via the fifth-year option on his rookie deal) to offset some of their annual cost. An AFC executive emphasized the importance to team culture of paying impactful players, particularly at premium positions which teams typically view as quarterback, edge rusher, left tackle and receiver.

Start there, the executive said, then draft well and make future tradeoffs.

The Cowboys appear to have demonstrated that strategy this offseason, including on their offensive line, letting their starting center and left tackle walk in cost-saving measures before starting in their place rookies who fared better than expectation in Week 1.

Will they continue that trend to lock up Parsons?

What does Jerry Jones’ history tell us?

Where logic ends, emotion enters.

Emotion can’t be undervalued as a scale-tipping factor when considering the Cowboys’ strategic moves.

Sure, Prescott’s contract has ample logical backing.

The Cowboys’ ninth-year starter finished second in MVP voting last season as he led the league in passing touchdowns and led his team to a 12-5 record for the third straight year. The top knock on Prescott is whether he can elevate his surrounding cast in postseason games as Dallas’ NFC title game and Super Bowl drought approaches its three-decade mark. The Cowboys ultimately decided not only is Prescott one of the better quarterbacks not named Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson in the NFL, but also he’s light-years ahead of any possible replacements.

And yet, Jones made clear to Prescott and to reporters that this deal was emotional for him. The team owner and general manager turns 82 next month.

“I hope Dak is our quarterback for the rest of my time,” Jones said hours after striking a deal. “We’re going to be able to get players around him that give us a chance to compete for a Super Bowl. He was our best chance of getting one.”

Will the Cowboys view Parsons as similarly integral to their best chance at hoisting a Lombardi Trophy? Parsons voiced belief this week that his next deal will come in Dallas.

“A lot of fans are worried about me,” Parsons said on his Bleacher Report show, The Edge. “I know I’m gonna be a Cowboy. There’s nothing like Cowboy Nation. The love is very mutual.”

Parsons added that he’s focused right now on winning before earning.

“The contract is not really what I’m worried about,” he said. “If the contract, something like that happens furthermore, then that happens. But right now we’re focused on trying to be legendary, be great and bring championships back to Dallas because that’s what the most important thing is.”

If those championships arrive, Dallas’ answer to this question should be easy.

Jones intimated that he has a vision either way when he acknowledged that Prescott’s new payday does impact the finances the team can allot for Parsons.

“Any player you sign [will] impact it,” Jones said. “The real question is the rest of the story, and that is, how do things evolve? Where are we when that time comes?

“You’ve got to have a plan, and believe you me, I’m thinking ahead. Always have when it comes to Cowboys.”