Another Dallas Cowboys legend has offered his two cents regarding Cowboys star linebacker Micah Parsons and his ongoing hold-in. A week after the subject was broached by Emmitt Smith, Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman addressed Parsons’ situation while offering a subtle prediction for how things might play out.<\/p>\n
“I’d be shocked if they don’t [come to terms on a new contract] prior to the season,” Aikman said from the broadcast booth on Monday night, “but I don’t know what leverage [Parsons] has, other than the fact that they, in my opinion, won’t be very good without him.”<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old Parsons is holding-in for a new contract as he is currently slated to play the 2025 season under his fifth-year option that would pay him a base salary of just over $24 million. While that’s certainly not a bad payday, Parsons would be making roughly $17 million fewer this season than Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt, who earlier this summer became the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback in terms of average annual salary.<\/p>\n
Watt and Browns defensive lineman Myles Garrett have raised the bar in terms of what salaries look like for the NFL’s top-tier defensive players. Like Watt, Garrett recently signed extension this with the Browns that will pay him over $40 million annually. That is surely the type of payday Parsons is seeking.<\/p>\n
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While Aikman doesn’t think the Cowboys will be very good without Parsons, he does feel his former club has a chance to be better than most prognosticators think they will be this season with Parsons in the fold. He specifically has high hopes for first-time head coach Brian Schottenhiemer.<\/p>\n
“I think they got a chance,” Aikman said. “I like what Bryan Schottenheimer has shown in training camp and going into the year, and they’ve got some things that I like about the team in general. But without Micah Parsons, I just don’t think they’re gonna slow anybody down. I mean, he’s a total game wrecker, and he’s proven that, and he’s certainly worth every penny that he’s ultimately going to get paid.<\/p>\n
“The longer it goes, the more money he’s going to make. So I wouldn’t stress too much if I was him, but that essentially is the only leverage. ”<\/p>\n
Aikman alluded to the obvious, which is that Cowboys owner\/general manager Jerry Jones will ultimately be the one who decides how this will all go down. Jones is far from a stranger when it comes to handling difficult contracts. In fact, the 82-year-old Jones has had numerous contract situations over the years with notable players, including Smith and current players such as Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb.<\/p>\n
Each of those players ended up re-signing with the Cowboys. That might be the reason why Aikman is confident that the same thing will happen with Parsons.<\/p>\n
“Jerry has shown that that he’ll pay top dollar,” Aikman said. “[Parsons] is a generational talent, and like I said, he’s a total game wrecker. He’s proven that. So they’ll get something done. [That] is what I expect.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Aikman expects Parsons and Dallas to figure out the contract situation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":80258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n