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Cowboys DE Micah Parsons

Coming off a 7-10 season that was majorly disappointing, riddled with injuries and ended with their coach being replaced, it’s not a far leap to say this is a crucial offseason for the Dallas Cowboys. They were 12-5 for three consecutive seasons before that, and some roster tinkering should vault them back into competitiveness, at least into the playoff picture.

Ah, but that will require two offseason approaches for the Cowboys, first a dedication to creating the kind of cap space that gives the team flexibility on the free-agent market and second, the willingness to spend the money created on top-line talent. The team’s track record on those fronts in recent years has been very, very disappointing.

Still, it’s February and there is hope. For the team’s star pass-rusher Micah Parsons–who is himself up for a top-of-the-market contract extension–that hope is front-and-center.

On Wednesday, ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano wrote on Twitter/X, “The NFL today informed teams that the 2025 per-team salary cap will fall in the range of $277.5 million to $281.5 million, way up from last year’s $255.4 million. Cap will have increased by more than $53 million over the last two years.”

And ever-the-optimist Parsons responded, “Lfg!”

Cowboys Have Not Been Flexible in Past

For the uninitiated, “Lfg!” means, “Let’s (expletive) go!” and is a sign that Parsons, for one, is ready to get the Cowboys’ offseason rolling.

But the Cowboys do not have a lot of room to work with. They can create some, starting with Parsons, who is under contract on a fifth-year option, worth $24 million. Ideally, the team and Parsons will agree to throw that out and instead land on a new contract, heavily weighted in the first year with a signing bonus, which would create significantly more room.

The team would have to get that done before March 12, when free agency gets started. Ideally, they’d get it done well in advance. That is how some teams–the defending-champ Eagles, for example–operate, but the Cowboys have always let negotiations for star extension drag out, as they did with CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott last year.

That prevents them from being active in the free-agent market, and allows them to claim they did not have the cap space for it. Last offseason, for example, the Cowboys could have renegotiated Prescott’s deal early, created cap space and signed, say, Derrick Henry with the cap space.

Instead, they let the Prescott deal drag until the start of the season and cried “no cap space” whenever asked about Henry.

Micah Parsons Wants FO to Be ‘Aggressive’

Parsons, to his credit, laid down the gauntlet for team owner Jerry Jones about the Cowboys’ inactivity. He would have to be flexible in how he structures his deal, but Parsons sounded like he is willing to do so.

“The talent is there. We’ve jus got to be aggressive the same way (other teams) did,” Parsons said, per Nick Harris of theFort Worth Star-Telegram. “I don’t want to sit back and watch other teams build and build and us stay the same. Definitely some call to action. I want to see us become aggressive and get some players that will come in and make an impact. I want to see us bring back our own players.

“That’s just as important. Let’s see what we can do there.”

Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney