Sitting at his locker Thursday afternoon after the Dallas Cowboys’ final padded practice of the season, Micah Parsons spoke candidly about his looming contract situation. Parsons is in the fourth year of his rookie deal after the Cowboys drafted him in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
With the Cowboys picking up his fifth-year option, Parsons is under contract in 2025. However, he and the Cowboys hope to reach a major contract extension in the upcoming offseason.
“I’m going to try and work with them as much as possible to attack free agency,” Parsons said. “I want to be back with this team. To me, this offseason, I want to be here. I want to get these guys right. I want to take big steps, so hopefully it can be done sooner than later.”
San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa is the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history, averaging $34 million per year. That’s tied with Parsons’ Cowboys teammate CeeDee Lamb for the second-highest non-quarterback figure in the NFL, behind Justin Jefferson’s $35 million per season.
When asked questions about what the numbers of his mega-deal could look like, Parsons made it clear: “I don’t need ($40 million).”
“I need to be somewhere where I can have a lake house,” Parsons said. “It could be anywhere, it could be a lake house in Lake Tahoe, you don’t know.”
Parsons, who has been one of the best defensive players in the NFL since returning from his injury in early November, said he doesn’t think anything he does the rest of the season will change the outlook of his next deal.
“I don’t think my money is going to change,” Parsons said. “I think I’m a difference-maker, and I’ll probably be treated like a difference-maker. I’ve proven that over and over again. I don’t think these next three weeks I’m going to gain $20 million. I think I’m pretty much capped.”
Capped at?
“I think I’m the best player in the world,” Parsons said. “I don’t throw numbers out there like that. I’ll see what they’re willing to give me.”
Parsons acknowledged that although it would be nice to be paid at the top of the charts, it would also be nice to be playing in a favorable situation.
“It would just be nice to be surrounded by good players,” Parsons said. “Players that will help you win championships, I’ll say that. To me, having $40 million and (being) chipped every play and slid into with three or four people, that doesn’t sound too fun to me. So, to me, it’s about people that can keep making a difference and obviously we’re going to get Sam (Williams) back and some of them players back. We’ll see how it breaks down, but I want to keep as many guys as possible. They’re going to make the cap work, I don’t know.”
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones recently spoke to the Cowboys’ 2025 offseason strategy, which sounded like it’ll be similar to the 2024 approach, which was not aggressive.
There was a report recently from NFL Network that painted the Cowboys’ position about Parsons as open to trading him. Jerry and Stephen Jones both reiterated their desire to keep Parsons around for the long haul. While that would mean a contract extension is coming, the timing could still be ambiguous.
Even if his extension isn’t on the books early on, Parsons said he doesn’t see a holdout in his future.
“I think I’ll still be around,” Parsons said. “Like I said, I don’t know what the coaching is going to be like. At some point, if I’ve got to learn a new scheme. I would love to have Zimmer back. I kind of publicly, consistently say that, what he’s done for this team, through the injuries and everything. He’s done a tremendous job for me. I would love to have him back. But if they do change, or if he just feels like he just wants to go with the horses, I’ve got to learn a new scheme.
“I’ve got to be around guys. There’s going to be rookies. There’s going to be free-agent guys that come here. You don’t know who’s going to be there. Our room is full of free agents. So, there’s a chemistry part. People know what you can do, but people also got to see it, too, from a leader aspect. I’ve still got to be there for that part.”
Required reading
- Cowboys Today: The growing relationship between Micah Parsons and Mike Zimmer
- Is Cooper Rush proving to be the Cowboys’ backup QB beyond this season?
- With big tests looming for the Cowboys, Mike Zimmer’s defense has turned a corner
(Photo: Timothy Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
