FRISCO, Texas — Players in the NFL habitually mention blocking out distractions throughout the football season. It’s been programmed into them at a hardcore intensity since playing Division 1 college football.
Despite the training, it was impossible for Dallas Cowboys players to ignore the noise surrounding All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons’ contract negotiations with Jerry Jones. Still, players were caught off guard when the saga didn’t end with Parsons re-signing a top dollar deal with Dallas like Pro Bowl quarterback Dak Prescott (four years, $240 million) and All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (four years, $136 million) last offseason.
Prescott himself expressed “confidence” in Parsons taking the field with the Cowboys in Week 1 as recently as Aug. 25, days before Parsons was dealt to the Green Bay Packers on Aug. 28 in exchange for two first-round picks and three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark. Now, his former teammates are forced to process their surprise rapidly before suiting up to kick off the 2025 NFL season at the Super Bowl LIX champion Eagles in Philadelphia on Thursday night.
“I can’t say I was completely surprised, but I definitely didn’t think he was going to get traded, I’ll say that. But just the way the negotiations went down, obviously to some extent, I mean, hell y’all were asking me questions, it seemed like it got personal on their end,” Prescott said after practice on Sunday. “So like that’s why I wasn’t surprised.”
All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland, who re-signed with the Cowboys on a four-year, $92 million deal on Sunday in the wake of Parsons’ departure, admitted he truly was shocked by the four-time Pro Bowl edge rusher being dealt.
“For me, it’s definitely a surprise,” Bland said after practice on Sunday. “I came in [to the league], and Micah was there. He was a guy that, especially when I made it to the Pro Bowl, he was a guy that was always there with me. Trying to keep my head high and stuff, so it was definitely a surprise. ….Three days out from the game, so right now it’s kind of being worried about what we got this week. … Micah, we love him. That’s our brother still, so we love him.”
All-Pro return man/wide receiver KaVontae Turpin, who also re-signed with Dallas on a three-year, $13.5 million extension this offseason, found the end result of Parsons’ back-and-forth with the Cowboys front office “crazy.” That was certainly the general public’s consensus after the Jones family opted to trade Parsons, who joined Hall of Famer Reggie White as the second player with 12 or more sacks in each of their first four seasons played, away.
“It’s crazy because that’s Micah Parsons, but at the end of the day, I feel like they [the front office] did what they thought was best for the team,” Turpin said after practice on Sunday. “I’m with them [the front office], but my man [Parsons], that’s a generational player.”
Prescott, the Cowboys locker room leader and one of six players named 2025 team captains on Sunday, acknowledged both the happiness with the addition of Clark, and the reality that trading away Parsons may not have made Dallas a better football team. On an unrelated note, the other five captains for the upcoming season are Lamb, defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa, safety Donovan Wilson, kicker Brandon Aubrey and veteran special teamer C.J. Goodwin.
Back to Parsons. Dallas’ defensive expected points added (EPA) per play when Parsons was on the field ranked as the best in the NFL since 2021. When off the field in that same span, Dallas had the league’s worst EPA per play, per CBS Sports Research. In the end, Prescott is thankful the conflict didn’t drag into the season because that would have been a “headache.” To be clear, Parsons didn’t view Parsons as a headache. The two messaged shortly after the news broke, and the Cowboys quarterback wished the newest Packer “good luck.”
“We added a great player. Obviously got some picks for the future. I’m not going to say we’re better. We’ve got to go out there and prove it,” Prescott said. “We had to prove it even if he was on this team, so I’m not going to say that by any means. But I know what adding a guy like Kenny Clark, adding a true leader, a real man that’s going to only elevate this team, who’s been a Pro Bowl player and is excited about being here. I know our focus right now is Philly. I think that’s everybody’s focus in that locker room. I don’t think anybody’s hung up on that [the Parsons trade’].
“As I’ve said there’s enough news and enough media about it. I think as much as anything it’s good that a solution happened,” Prescott continued. “Obviously Micah got paid. He got paid very well and great for him and his family. We’ll see him here in about a month [in Week 4]. So just honestly glad, I can’t say glad, but glad we’ve moved past that and everybody seemed happy because of it. … The locker room has seemed upbeat. The ping-pong games have still been going on, and we’re focused on Philly.”
|
Defensive EPA/Play |
0.08 |
-0.04 |
|
NFL Rank |
1st |
Last |
More pressure on the Cowboys offense?
Jerry Jones’ initial retort when CBS Sports asked the Cowboys owner what he would say to players about if they were uncertain they could earn an extension in Dallas since Parsons couldn’t was simple.
“Ask Dak,” Jones said with a wry grin. “Highest-paid man in the NFL. There’s a lot of players that they could ask that have been paid around here. I’ll pay players.”
“Ask Dak” might as well be a microcosm of Dallas’ organization because following the departure of the Cowboys’ most valuable defensive player, it would appear the pressure has ratcheted up on the quarterback making an NFL-most $60 million average per year salary. Yet, he doesn’t see it that way.
“Not necessarily. We got to go out there and do our job regardless, regardless,” Prescott said. “We’ve got to trust our defense in doing theirs. And so [I] can’t say, can’t say, more or less.”
In 2024, Prescott’s season was cut short with by a torn hamstring in Week 9 at the Atlanta Falcons. The last full season Prescott played in 2023, he led the NFL with 36 passing touchdowns. That’s one reason why there’s a lot of confidence in the building for what Dallas’ offense can do in 2025 under new head coach Brian Schottenheimer.
“Obviously just a day into it [installing the Week 1 game plan], but super excited,” Prescott said. The way that he’s approaching this thing, him, the whole coaching staff, the way that we’re going to attack these guys, a lot of excitement.”
Another reason for the buzz around the building is Lamb, who led the NFL with 135 catches in 2023, is now paired with another wide receiver whose talent is in the same area code: former Pittsburgh Steeler George Pickens. The 24-year-old’s 16.7 yards per reception average spanning the last two seasons, leads the entire NFL among 61 players with at least 110 catches since 2023. Prescott has found Pickens’ transition into the Cowboys’ attack to be seamless.
“Yeah. I mean, from day one, he made it easy, man. He’s a guy that gets open, big target, runs hard, plays like a team player. So whether it’s the run [blocking] or not, he’s doing his job,” Prescott said. “And it’s been easy, and it’s only gotten better and better and better. It’s really because of the player he is, and the buy in that he’s had into this offense. Whether it’s learning, learning more and asking for more because he’s mastered that. Super excited to have another guy like that out there.”
When Turpin lines up with the first-team offense at the line of scrimmage in practice and sees one of Lamb or Pickens to either side of him, a single thought stands out: Dallas domination.
“I feel like we’re going to go out there and dominate,” Turpin said. “I just feel like that’s the feeling in the building. … I just feel like I’m free, man. I feel like I’m one on one with somebody because of those two guys out there. I’m going to try to go out there and beat whoever is in front of me. I don’t care who it is. I’m just trying to go out there and dominate.”
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