Payday can wait: Cowboys’ Micah Parsons plans to maximize value

 

[September 11, 2024]  CeeDee Lamb received his extension two weeks before the Dallas Cowboys began their season. For Dak Prescott, news of his record-breaking contract came hours before gametime.

The next young star player due for a deal in Dallas is Micah Parsons, but the linebacker is in no hurry.

In appearances on NFL Network and his own podcast, Parsons declared he is not concerned about his contract at the dawn of the new season -- and he wants to show just how good he can be in order to fully cash in when his next deal comes.

"For me, I just want to prove to the front office that I'm the best player, and I can do it consistently at an all-time high," Parsons told "GMFB: Overtime" on Tuesday. "I think I've been doing that pretty much, but I really want to prove my value. I want to get (Cowboys owner) Jerry (Jones) a couple wins.

"I kinda just want to maximize my value so that they see, ‘We've got to keep this guy. This guy is great in the locker room, and he wants to be part of this team, and he cares about winning.'"

Parsons, 25, has been one of the best defenders in the game since being selected in the first round (12th overall) of the 2021 draft. He won Defensive Rookie of the Year honors that season and has been a Pro Bowl selection in each of his first three NFL campaigns, plus a first-team All-Pro in 2021 and 2022.

Parsons has accumulated sack totals of 13.0, 13.5 and 14.0 to start his career. He notched one sack and a pass breakup on Sunday in the Cowboys' season-opening win over the Cleveland Browns.

Parsons said new Dallas defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer gave him "the free will" to make plays Sunday.

"It's also the discipline factor of he's making other people learn different positions, too, and we practiced it in camp, which allows me to do this," Parsons said. "It starts with the simple factor of me wanting to do it and Mike creating ideas for me to do it. He allows me just to range and go over the guard. ... He's giving me this free will to say, ‘Hey, if they're coming out in this formation, you do that, you can go into there.' He's giving me a lot of free reign that I feel like I haven't had over the last couple years, and the fact that we've got kinda like this trust factor ... I really like it a lot."

Oct 16, 2023; Inglewood, California, USA; Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons (11) leaves the field after the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo

Cowboys fans will be glad to hear Parsons' positive feelings for his new coordinator and the team at large. On his "The Edge with Micah Parsons" podcast Monday, Parsons said "I know I'm going to be a Cowboy" at the end of the day.

"There's nothing like Cowboy Nation. I think the love is very mutual. ... As for me, I'm just focused on winning games," he said. I want to win those big games. I want to win those playoff games, get to the Super Bowl. For me, the contract is not really what I'm worried about."

Parsons is in in the final year of his original rookie contract, and Dallas has exercised the fifth-year option that will pay Parsons $21.324 million in 2025 unless a long-term extension is worked out before then. San Francisco 49ers pass rusher Nick Bosa is currently the top-paid defensive player in the league, making $34 million annually, and Parsons figures to meet or surpass that.

It could end up putting the Cowboys on the hook for the highest-paid player in NFL history -- Prescott (four years, $240 million) -- and Parsons at the same time.

"We're happy (Prescott's contract) gets done because now, it puts a lot of talk to the side," Parsons said on the podcast. "We're like, ‘Man, we got our quarterback now.' We can really just focus, like Dak said, on winning games."

--Field Level Media

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