As the Dallas Cowboys continued to ramp of their offseason program with the start of on-field workouts Tuesday there remained two notable absences: receiver CeeDee Lamb and edge rusher Micah Parsons.
Lamb’s stance was no surprise.
Coming off his second straight All-Pro season in which he led the league in catches and set a franchise record for yards, Lamb is using his absence as a bargaining tool in his hopes for a contract extension.
He never had any intention of participating in any part of the voluntary offseason program.
The big question is whether he will show up for the mandatory minicamp, set for June 4-6. Teams can fine players over $98,000 for missing all three days of practice.
Lamb is set to make $17.99 million this year on the fifth-year option and is eligible for the franchise tag in 2025, but he is seeking a deal worth at least $30 million annually now.
That Parsons missed the first part of the offseason program was expected. He did same last season.
In addition working out privately, Parsons spent a good portion of early May barnstorming Japan and China with Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud.
He is now back in Dallas.
But rather than attend the first week of OTA practices, which run Tuesday through Thursday at the team’s headquarters at the Star in Frisco, Parsons is doing boxing workouts with his own private trainer.
Although he, too, is in line for a contract extension which could make him the highest paid defensive player in NFL history, Parsons’ absence is not money related. It’s just his chosen path in how he wants to get ready for the 2024 season.
He is expected to join his teammates for OTAs next week ahead of the June minicamp.
There is no question that Parsons will be in shape. He has kept in constant communication with coach Mike McCarthy and the strength and conditioning staff.
But unlike last season when Parsons was already comfortable with then-defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s system, his absence is a missed opportunity to learn new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer’s scheme at the same as the rest of the defense.
After beginning his career with the Cowboys as a linebacker, Parsons has lined up as a defensive end for much of the past two seasons.
Zimmer is not going reinvent the wheel in how the Cowboys use Parsons, who finished in the top three of NFL Defensive Player of the Year voting in each of the past three seasons and has totaled 40.5 sacks in his first three seasons combined.
“He doesn’t have to take many steps,” Zimmer said last week. “We were sitting up there again this morning talking about other things we can do with him. He’s such a dynamic player that, I said this the other day: ‘Offenses are always going to know where he’s at.’ They’re going to turn protections to him, have the back help chip no matter what it is.
“In a lot of the games he played last year that I watched, the offenses had a good scheme where they get two tight ends on him and all those things. So, we’re going to obviously move him around, do different things with him, but we’re going to use him some ways where we’re getting the protection turned the way we want it turned and able to win on the other side. Sometimes, we’re going to try to overload a protection where he gets a one-on-one.”
