The biggest question many Dallas Cowboys fans, media members who cover the NFL and even fans of other teams ask is this: why?
Why is it the same song and dance nearly every offseason when Cowboys stars are up for long-term contract extensions? Neither CeeDee Lamb nor Dak Prescott entered training camp a year ago with new deals despite their play on the field meriting such pacts. As a result, the team ended up forking over even more money, as both are among the highest-paid players at their respective positions.
That’s a result of Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones opting to wait until the proverbial last second to get these contracts hammered out with his stars instead of locking them down early.
And this year is no different, with perennial All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons still without a long-term deal as the Cowboys kick off training camp in Oxnard, California.
Why is Parsons still waiting to get paid while his peers — Maxx Crosby, Danielle Hunter, Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, etc. — have cashed in with new deals all offseason long?
The reason is because Jerry Jones is no longer “the gambler” he once was when he built Dallas’ 1990’s dynasty teams that won three Super Bowls in four seasons. The gambling Jones whom Netflix is releasing a documentary about on Aug. 19 is gone, and the Jones who spoke at the team’s introductory training camp press conference Monday now operates out of fear.
“There’s a lot of water under the bridge if you step out there and do something in the first two to three years,” Jones said about giving out early contract extensions. “You can get hit by a car. Seriously. There’s a lot to look at over a lot of years that could make a big difference.”
How Trevon Diggs factors into Parsons’ situation
The Cowboys drafted cornerback Trevon Diggs in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft, and he earned two Pro Bowl selections and a 2021 first-team All-Pro nod after leading the NFL with 11 interceptions in his second season. That led to a five-year, $97 million extension that, thus far, has not worked out.
Diggs tore his ACL in practice in Week 3 of the 2023 season, and then another knee injury cut his 2024 campaign short and caused him to have surgery this offseason. Dallas placed Diggs on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list on Tuesday on the heels of him playing just 13 games the last two seasons. The Cowboys also haven’t been thrilled with Diggs’ on- or off-field leadership the past few years.
“You’ve got a dynamic going on,” Jerry Jones said. “You’ve got 10-12% of your people making two-thirds of the money. It’s incumbent upon that group to walk and lead, walk and lead, and it covers a lot of ground … to make that work.”
The Dallas Morning News reported last week that Dallas cut Diggs’ pay by $500,000 because Diggs didn’t show up for at least 84% of his rehab work and organized team activities this spring. He instead chose to rehab and train in South Florida, so the Cowboys activated a clause in his contract that was signed back in 2023 to reduce his salary for the 2025 season.
“[It’s] spelled out,” Cowboys COO and EVP Stephen Jones said Monday. “He understood when he decided he was going to train in South Florida, he understood what the consequences would be.”
“We expect a player paid like Trevon to be here all the time,” Jerry Jones added. “We expect him to be leading, expect him to be leading, but that’s not new.”
Dallas was also proactive in re-signing right tackle Terence Steele, although that deal came with much more defined risk. Steele tore his ACL and MCL late in the 2022 season, but the Cowboys still signed him to a five-year, $82.5 million contract extension just before the start of the 2023 season, banking on him bouncing back.
His return from the knee injury the last two years has been bumpy, especially in pass protection. Steele’s 94 quarterback pressures allowed since 2023 are the most in the NFL, per TruMedia. His 78.9 PFF run-blocking grade in 2024 was the 12th-best among tackles who played a minimum of 650 snaps.
Jerry Jones’ process in getting those deals done earlier was sound, but they just haven’t worked out to this point. That’s why he said the quiet part out loud.
“Frankly, should we have waited on (deals for) Diggs and Steele?”
Micah Parsons is becoming wildly expensive, and Jerry Jones and the Cowboys only have themselves to blame
Garrett Podell
Why Parsons is different
Parsons’ on-field talent and production are clear; his leadership off the field is why Jones has long needed to take the financial plunge with him.
Parsons reached out to Jones in January to set up a meeting in the owner’s suite at AT&T Stadium during the College Football Playoff semifinal to get contract talks rolling. He showed up for parts of OTAs, and he even participated in position drills at mandatory minicamp — something that typically doesn’t happen when stars around the NFL are in the midst of contract disputes.
Head coach Brian Schottenheimer said Parsons would practice Tuesday at training camp, and Parsons indeed ran onto the practice field with his helmet on.
Lamb earned a second team All-Pro selection in 2024 after Jones paid him, and he showed leadership by fighting through a shoulder injury until Dallas was clearly out of playoff contention.
Yet, Jones can only think of his fear of his players suffering injuries. That fear is so high that he mistakenly said Parsons missed six games with an ankle injury in 2024 when he really missed only four games.
It would be in the franchise’s best interest for Jones to overcome his fears and return to being the proactive gambler he once was in the 1990s. Otherwise, Dallas Cowboys football seasons will be more of the same for the foreseeable future.
“Just because we sign him, doesn’t mean we’re going to have him,” Jerry Jones said of Parsons. “He was hurt [four, not six] games last year. Seriously. I remember signing a player for the highest paid at the position in the league and he got knocked out two-thirds of the year, Dak Prescott. So there’s a lot of things you can think about just as the player does when you’re thinking about committing and guaranteeing money.”
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