FRISCO — The Dallas Cowboys have had a year to plan out the "highest-paid-non-QB-ever'' contract extension for defensive star Micah Parsons. ... and for a time they were catching a break as Micah himself spoke openly of offering "America's Team'' a hometown discount.
Still, even before $40 million APY became the new bar to leap over - thanks to the Myles Garrett deal in Cleveland and then the Ja'Marr Chase deal in Cincinnati - that number was on Micah's mind.
As he said recently, “I just played these last couple years on $2 (million) and $3 million. I think if I had $40 million, I’d be the happiest man alive. You go from playing for the league rookie minimum and get that big of a jump, I think anybody would be happy.”
Parsons played last season for a base salary of $2.989 million and is scheduled to play 2025 on the fifth-year option of $24.07 million. The good news about that latter number? If Dallas does a deal as logically structured, it will cut Parsons' 2025 cap impact in half ...
And Dallas can have over $50 million in shopping room.
The bad news? Well, besides the fact that the deal isn't done - even as CowboysCountry.com has been told that "proposal numbers'' have been exchanged - Micah essentially said this week that there is no bad news.
“It’s coming along well,” Parsons announced to DLLS this week.
Parsons truly seems unconcerned about not having a long-term agreement yet, and about where this is eventually going. He's called owner Jerry Jones "my dawg'' and both sides seem to understand that with this sort of money involved ... maybe $186 million total ...
This is about to be a business partnership.
We continue to believe that the rumors and speculation about a trade here does not follow the Dallas plan. The Joneses know that a guy who isn't yet 26 but who has four Pro Bowls, two All-Pro invites and 52.5 sacks in four seasons is close to irreplaceable.
Oh, and maybe they know how starved a skeptical Cowboys Nation is for a feel-good move forward.
Parsons has earned an extension to make him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league. Both sides are optimistic here. We've probably solved the $40 million part of the issue, leaving only one core concern.
When?
