FRISCO - At the Dallas Cowboys' press conference Tuesday afternoon, the upcoming NFL Draft was the main purpose of the discussion, but no question was off limits.
In between conversations about draft boards, roster construction, and any other rumors or speculation, along came the topic of Micah Parsons.
It's no secret, Dallas' premier pass rusher is still awaiting a likely record-setting contract extension before he enters the last year of his rookie deal.
Speculation around this saga has grown after questionable remarks from the Cowboys' brass about the state of these negotiations.
At the podium, a question was raised about the fear of Parsons holding out of training camp, to which front office leaders Jerry and Stephen Jones acknowledged how that is sometimes part of the process.
"I just think it inherently comes with the territory," Stephen said. "You look around the league and most of these players who are getting these very top contracts, it does take time to ultimately get there.
"Believe me, if we could sign Micah to a number we wanted to sign him to we'd do it right now, but right now there's a difference in what we feel like is the right number and what he feels like is the right number."
So there lies your problem.
It now appears the two parties are further apart in the negotiations financially than before, despite earlier reports of proposed figures that would put Micah into that upper echelon of the highest-paid defensive players in NFL history.
During the presser, Jerry Jones answered about a fear of a potential holdout, but despite the apparent separation in viewpoints, is not worried.
"The facts are, the contracts are clear what happens," Jerry said. "My point is ... we had it with [Zack] Martin. And Martin held out. One way to look at it was we got him, and we had one hell of a year with Martin."
But then something else happened.
After the press conference, Jerry spoke to a small group of reporters that included our Mike Fisher and said quietly of the Parsons talks, “I know about the years, and I know about the guarantees, I know about those kinds of things, and really it's close enough. ...
"I'm comfortable with it. I don't need to adjust.”
This isn't to say Jerry won't "adjust.''
This also isn't to say Parsons will hold out, because we noticed in appreciation how he was an early attendee on the first day of voluntary practice.
So in a way, Jerry and Stephen are suggesting slightly different setups here.
The reality is that the longer the deal takes to get done, the more likely the market will get reset - in turn costing Dallas more - which has already happened this offseason for the defensive end position.
The organization realizes how much Micah means to the success of the defense ... and on all accounts, Micah wants to be in Dallas just as much.
Unfortunately, the team is running low on time to figure out these "differences" before they risk suffering any unnecessary conflicts.
But ... there is just one last step to be made. And it's pretty feasible.
Sources tell Fisher that Micah has nudged the Joneses to contact the agent David Mulugheta to close a deal that could be a $200 million contract over five years.
That can happen in an instant. It just hasn't, it seems, yet.
