With the supposed negotiations about his deal extension going nowhere, Parsons requested a trade from the Cowboys on Friday. In a lengthy statement on X, he claimed that there hasn’t even been a “single conversation” about the matter.

Amid the development with the three-time All-Pro, sports host Bill Simmons shared his conspiracy theory about Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

“Part of me wonders, does he just do this sometimes with these holdouts just to get people talking about the Cowboys all month? When he knows this is how it is going to end. They’re not trading Micah Parsons. Nobody’s doing that. He’s one of the seven most important guys in the league. You’re not trading him,” said Simmons on The Ringer’s podcast.

“I am convinced that he does this s*** sometimes just so, like, ‘First Take’ will lead with the Cowboys and people write the stories. I don’t believe this for a second.”

“This feels like it’s Jerry versus Micah.”@BillSimmons and @DMRussini discuss Micah Parsons’s trade request and the apparent rift between him and Jerry Jones. pic.twitter.com/nyNt7QdG8c

— The Ringer (@ringer) August 4, 2025

As Simmons intimated, it’s not the first time that the 82-year-old Jones has seemingly held a player hostage with a contract holdout. Last season, it was wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. Further back, it was quarterback Dak Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliot.

Simmons’ guest, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, stressed that it’s not Jones’ first rodeo in terms of dealing with players.

“I think the Cowboys’ perspective on it, or at least Jerry Jones’ perspective on it is, ‘Look, I’ve done this with other players. I asked Dak to do it with me, and Dak said no, talk to Todd France, my agent.’ That’s how they did it, and Micah never spoke up. Micah never said that. I think that’s how Jerry sees it,” said Russini.

It will be highly interesting to see how the situation plays out for Dallas and Parsons. But one thing’s already clear: We’re indeed talking about the Cowboys.