Micah Parsons’ contract talks with the Dallas Cowboys have not progressed in any meaningful way this offseason. If anything, they’ve deteriorated further.
On Friday, Aug. 1, Parsons formally requested a trade from the Cowboys in a lengthy social media post.
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“Unfortunately I no longer want to be here,” he wrote.
Two years ago, Cowboys team owner/general manager Jerry Jones rationalized holding off on paying seven-time All-Pro guard Zack Martin by saying, “We’ve got a guy out here, (Micah) Parsons, who’s going to need a little money.” Flash forward a couple of years, and that “guy out here” is still waiting for his contract extension.
Parsons is set to enter the final year of his rookie contract in 2025 but has been eligible to negotiate a new contract since last offseason. The Cowboys opted to work out deals with quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb last year instead, and talks have stalled with Parsons this year.
Parsons is holding in at the team’s training camp, attending mandatory activities but refusing to practice until a new deal gets done.
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Here are all of the latest updates in the Parsons contract dispute saga:
EXCLUSIVE: Jerry Jones unplugged. He talks Micah Parsons contract
Micah Parsons contract dispute: Latest updates
A lot has happened in the last week.
Multiple reports emerged last Friday suggesting that the standoff between the Cowboys and their star edge rusher was reaching a boiling point.
According to those same reports, the main issue stemmed from conversations Parsons had with Jones and the Cowboys in the spring without his agent. The team believed they had reached a deal; Parsons thought they’d let his agent take care of it. Instead, Dallas is refusing to engage in negotiations with agent David Mulugheta.
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Hours later, Parsons confirmed those reports with his post on social media site X formally requesting a trade.
In the post, Parsons said he had reached out to the team as early as last year to try to get a deal done, but “the team did not want to start any negotiations at that point.”
After playing out the 2024 season, the four-time Pro Bowler again reached out to try to get a deal done, even saying he went against Mulugheta’s advice to wait for other edge rushers to get paid to raise the market ceiling.
“Again radio silence as far as my extension,” Parsons wrote.
He went on to confirm reports that he had talked to Jones about a deal but also had expected the Cowboys to talk to his agent about getting things done.
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Instead, Parsons wrote, “Up to today the team has not had a single conversation with my agent about a contract.”
MICAH PARSONS: Cowboys’ star pass rusher requests trade out of Dallas
In an exclusive interview with USA TODAY Sports’ Jarrett Bell, Jones revealed that his mindset for extending players is that they should play out all of their existing deal before heading to extension negotiations.
He pointed to quarterback Dak Prescott and defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence as two recent examples of players who finished out their already-existing contracts before getting extensions.
“I’ve seen players I wish we had renegotiated their contracts earlier and I’ve had several that I was sorry I renegotiated their contract earlier,” he told Bell. “The idea that if you wait there’s more money (spent) forgets that in between that wait, you get to evaluate and you frankly get to see if you’re dealing with the same physical elements of it.”
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On Tuesday, Jones told reporters that he had not spoken to Parsons nor Mulugheta since the edge rusher’s formal trade request on Friday.
When asked if he had any confidence the two sides would reach a deal before Week 1, Jones said, “No, absolutely not. A big part of that is his decision. How would I know that? I’m just saying. But I’m urgent.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Micah Parsons contract: Latest updates for Cowboys star
