Micah Parsons is not holding back on his feelings regarding his lack of a long-term deal with the Dallas Cowboys.
One of the best pass-rushers in the league, Parsons is heading into the fifth and final year of his contract with the Cowboys. He'll be an unrestricted free agent in 2026 and, right now, he has no guarantees of a long-term contractual future with the Cowboys.
After practice on Tuesday, Parsons gave a frank answer when asked about his lack of a long-term deal. The long and short of it is that he's looked around the NFL and has seen top pass-rushers getting massive contracts.
The question is, why hasn't Dallas and owner Jerry Jones put that same type of investment into him just yet?
"When you go around the league and you see these other teams taking care of their best guys, I seen T.J. [Watt] gotten taken care of. Maxx [Crosby] got taken care of. Myles [Garrett] got taken care of, [and] he's got two years left on his deal," Parsons said, according to Todd Archer of ESPN. "You see a lot of people around the league taken care of, and you wish you had that same type of energy."
Parsons has notched 52.5 sacks over his first four seasons. For comparison's sake, Watt has 58.5 sacks in the same time period and Garrett has notched 60.
Watt and Garrett are two of the best pass-rushers in recent memory, and Parsons is right there alongside them. As far as how he sees it, he, of course, believes he's the best in the world at what he does.
"I feel like I'm the best at what I do," Parsons said. "You can argue whoever, but stats, numbers don't lie. The consistency is there, and the availability is there."
Watt just signed a three-year, $123M contract extension with the Pittsburgh Steelers, while earlier this offseason, the Browns signed Garrett to a four-year, $160M extension with $123.5M of that guaranteed.
The Cowboys and Jones have a reputation for being stingy negotiators, and they've taken many of their top players to the limit in the past before signing deals.
To that point, Parsons seems to be aware that he's not in a unique situation.
"This is not like I'm getting treated differently than anybody else. I don't take it personal. I just don't understand," he said.
With that said, Parsons is clearly frustrated about the lack of long-term guarantees of his future in Dallas. So much so that he went as far as to say that if the Cowboys don't want him in Dallas, he's happy to move on and take care of business elsewhere.
It's worth noting that Jones hasn't helped ease the tension, either. At the start of training camp on Monday, he went as far as to suggest that even if the Cowboys do sign Parsons, that doesn't mean he'll be available because of injury. Jones said that Parsons was injured for six games last season, while in reality, the star pass-rusher missed only four.
"I've been pretty consistent. If they don't want me here, they don't want me here and I'll go about my business. I understand the nature of the business," Parsons said. "Like I said, as far as I'm here and under contract, I'll do what I have to perform at the highest level but at the end this is the business. Same way Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones and the other Jerry Jones take care of their family is the same way I need to take care of my family. I've got three kids of my own, so we all need to take care of our own family at the end of the day."