While vice president Stephen Jones would push back on the idea, conventional wisdom is that the Dallas Cowboys have cost themselves money with their protracted negotiations with their top homegrown stars.
Quarterback Dak Prescott has had two lengthy negotiation periods and is projected to make over $436 million in career earnings through 2028 thanks to a pair of massive contracts that came at the end of long negotiation periods. Last summer, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb landed a then-record four-year, $136 million extension with $100 million in guaranteed money, signing in late August. Micah Parsons has been engaged with the team on his first big contract since last offseason, and with minicamp now over, a deal still isn't done.
Parsons is perplexed by the delay, and admitted to Clarence Hill of DLLS Sports that the price is just going up due to other negotiations around the league.
“It’s going to cost them more,” Parsons said, noting that his negotiation is still ongoing while the Pittsburgh Steelers figure out a new deal with pass rusher T.J. Watt—and that he's seen what Watt hopes to land with his new deal. Parsons is expected to set the market when he signs, and because of the Watt negotiations, he will likely make more than he would have if things had been settled earlier this spring.
Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett became the highest-paid defensive player in history with an average annual value of $40 million on his four-year, $160 million deal with $123 million guaranteed. He was quickly jumped in terms of non-quarterback pay by Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase, who will now make $40.25 million per year. Parsons indicates that Watt will break that mark, and that he is then set to become the new highest-paid non-quarterback when he signs with Dallas.
And that certainly sounds like a when, and not an if, so it would behoove Jerry Jones & Co. to get on the phone and lock his star defender up sooner rather than later.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Micah Parsons Explains Exactly Why Cowboys Have Cost Themselves by Waiting on Deal.