Micah Parsons contract extension: Adam Schefter states Dallas Cowboys are 'nowhere close' on deal for star LB

The Dallas Cowboys and star linebacker Micah Parsons have been negotiating a contract extension, without results, for months now. Still, there has been a general optimism that a deal will get done. Now, it seems the two sides might be heading in the wrong direction, though.

ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter appeared on Get Up Thursday. There, he may have stoked some concern for fans that a deal isn’t imminent between the two sides. In fact, he emphasized that they’re nowhere close to a contract extension.

“That deal is also nowhere close to being done,” Schefter said. “Everybody has a perception that the deal between the Dallas Cowboys and Micah Parsons is gonna get done. Maybe one day it will because negotiations take twists and turns that you don’t expect, but today, Wednesday, July 31st, they are further apart on a deal than they were in late March.”

Parsons has proven in his career that he’s one of the best pass rushers in the NFL. A first round pick in 2021, Parsons was Rookie of the Year, is a four-time Pro Bowl selection, and a two-time First-Team All-Pro selection. For his career, Parsons has 52.5 sacks and 63 tackles for a loss in four seasons.

For Dallas, Parsons has become the centerpiece of the team’s defense. He’s a player whom the Cowboys were expected to build around. However, as Schefter shared, negotiations have broken down from where they were a few months ago.

“It is not trending towards getting done. It’s trending right now the other way,” Schefter said. “And I think there are major questions as to how this situation will be resolved because I don’t think the Dallas Cowboys are particularly pleased with the way these negotiations have gone, and I don’t think Micah Parsons is particularly pleased with how these negotiations have gone, and there haven’t been any significant exchanges of proposals in recent weeks or, really, months. We go back to early April when it sounded like — Jerry Jones spoke at the owners meetings and made it sound like a deal was at the doorstep, but it’s not.”

Going into his fifth season in the NFL, Parsons is making $24 million. That’s now, severely underpaid for his position. TJ Watt, for instance, just signed a deal worth $123 million over three seasons. Parsons likely wants a deal similar to that one. However, for the time being, Dallas does have two more years of control. That’s what led to some speculation that Parsons could hold out, though he is at training camp while not practicing.

“Here’s the thing. Each side is going to have some decisions to make here. Because if they don’t get a deal done, the Dallas Cowboys would have Micah Parsons under contract this season. Mind you, he still hasn’t practiced yet, so he would have a decision to make. He’s under contract this year for $24 million. They could tag him next year for about $30 million. They control his rights for the next two years for anywhere about $52 and $58 million, which by the way, is just a little bit more than some of these pass rushers are getting on an annual basis right now. So, where is this gonna go? I don’t know,” Schefter said.

“But I can tell you that a deal is a long ways away if there’s one at all, and I think there’s questions that need to be asked. Everyone’s operated on this assumption that a deal between Dallas and Micah Parsons is gonna get done, and I would say it’s the opposite right now. You have to wonder when it will get done, and something is going to have to change until the deal gets done.”

Stephen Jones pushes back on Cowboys ‘dragging’ out contract negotiations

There have been several extended contract extensions for the Dallas Cowboys in recent years, with players like Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb taking time to get done. Despite that, Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones pushed back on the idea the team was dragging out the negotiations.

“We don’t agree on that. We don’t drag deals out. We do deals when there’s an opportunity to do a deal. Certainly, no one knows what goes on internally with a particular negotiation. Sometimes players and agents aren’t ready to pull the trigger until they see other cards played,” Jones said.

“What we’re not going to do is go out and do something that’s not responsible in terms of just in the name of getting a deal done one month earlier, go do it and pay the guy another $5 million of your cap space. Especially when you’re dealing, in our particular case, internally with guys who are homegrown here and we feel like they want to be here. I felt like Dak wanted to be here. I always felt like CeeDee wanted to be here.”

The NFL’s regular season is now rapidly approaching. The hope is still, certainly, that they’ll have a deal in place before they play the Philadelphia Eagles on September 4th.