A Brief History of Cowboys Contract Disputes Amid Micah Parsons, Jerry Jones Drama

Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons's contract saga feels all too familiar to those used to Dallas owner Jerry Jones's negotiation tactics.

Jones and the Cowboys have built a stubborn reputation out of dragging their feet and playing the waiting game when it comes to extending their biggest stars, and Parsons clearly is no exception. This offseason, the two-time All-Pro is negotiating to become the NFL's highest-paid non-quarterback (surpassing Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt, who's making $41 million a year), and there's no end in sight with only a few weeks before the start of the 2025 season.

As Parsons and Jones continue to dig more trenches in their ongoing contract war, here's a look at some of Dallas's most notable (and infamous) contract disputes from recent years.

Emmitt Smith, 1993

Technically, this list includes players from the last decade, but let's kick things off with a classic case: Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith engaged in one of the most notorious contract disputes in the organization's history that saw him hold out of the team's first two games.

Smith was entering his fourth campaign in Dallas and coming off a Super Bowl win in '92. He finally agreed to a four-year, $13.6 million deal that made him the league's highest-paid running back at the time.

That season, Smith yet again led the NFL in rushing yards (1,713) and helped the Cowboys defend their Super Bowl title.

Dez Bryant, 2015

Dallas wide receiver Dez Bryant played out his first five seasons with the team before contract talks started to get testy. Bryant, who was coming off an impressive campaign in which he hauled in a league-high 16 touchdowns, was then franchise-tagged ahead of the '15 season.

Bryant ended up getting a long-term deal done before the July 15 deadline that offseason, signing a five-year, $70 million extension. Injuries unfortunately derailed his '15 campaign, and he finished with 401 yards and three touchdowns in nine games.

Ezekiel Elliott, 2019

Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott decided to hold out in training camp ahead of the '19 season after putting together 1,400-plus rushing campaigns in two of his last three years.

In typical Jones fashion, the Dallas owner told the media not to worry about Elliott's future in Texas and that he would take care of it. Four days before the start of the season, Elliott inked a six-year, $90 million extension.

Elliott's agent who helped facilitate the deal was Rocky Arceneaux, who currently represents Bengals wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

Timeline of Cowboys Contract Disputes: Jerry Jones Loves the Waiting Game

Zack Martin, 2023

Cowboys guard Zack Martin wasn't seeking an extension but rather a revised deal during his tense holdout ahead of the '23 season.

Martin was due to make $13.5 million that year, a number far below the league's top earners at his position. He held out of the first few weeks of training camp before the Cowboys folded: Martin secured a deal that increased his salary from '23 to '24 by $8.5 million and was fully guaranteed each season.

Martin went on to play two more season for the Cowboys before retiring upon the expiration of his contract.

CeeDee Lamb, 2024

Like all the Cowboys stars before him, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb had to wait for his bag, and it was Dallas who paid the ultimate price.

Many of the league's top wide receivers including the Vikings' Justin Jefferson, the Lions' Amon-Ra St. Brown, and the Eagles' A.J. Brown got paid in the summer of 2024, causing the market value at the position to creep higher and higher by the week. The longer the Cowboys waited, the costlier Lamb's extension became. Still, Jones sat on his hands and expressed little concern about locking up his star wideout, who was holding out of training camp.

Lamb ultimately signed a four-year, $136 million extension just two weeks before the start of the season. He went on to tally his fourth straight 1,000-plus yard receiving campaign.

ESPN's Bill Barnwell reported that the Cowboys spent $14 million more on Lamb's deal in '24 than they could have negotiated for in '23.

Dak Prescott, 2024

History repeated itself with Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott, who ended up with one of the most player-friendly deals in the league.

However, Prescott took quite the long and winding journey to get there. The Cowboys allowed Prescott to play out the final year of his rookie deal and then franchise-tagged him ahead of the 2020 season. The situation got more complicated for Dallas after Prescott suffered a season-ending ankle injury that year, giving the Cowboys two options: they could extend him, or tag him again and risk losing him for nothing in free agency the following season.

Dallas chose the former and signed him to a four-year, $160 million deal in March 2021.

Fast forward to September '24, and Prescott was once again looking at one year left on his contract. Just hours before Dallas' season opener, Prescott and the Cowboys agreed to a then-historic four-year, $240 million extension with $231 million guaranteed, making him the NFL's first ever $60-million-a-year man.