Micah Parsons and Jerry Jones are at a standstill. The Dallas Cowboys owner wants his edge rusher suited up and playing with or without an extension in place.
Parsons doesn’t want to play for the Cowboys until they make the offer he desires, while including his representation. Since the Cowboys haven’t checked all of those boxes, Parsons has requested a trade.
After Saturday’s training camp session, the Cowboys’ owner addressed the media for the first time since Parsons publicly claimed he made a trade request. Jones doesn’t seem the least bit worried.
“I wouldn’t be standing here with you if I didn’t think we potentially had a great future with Micah,” Jones told reporters, via The Athletic. “It would be a waste of all of our time. We’re in good shape. This is negotiation. But make no mistake about it, life has to go on if something happens to me or anybody else. Life does go on. This thing called the NFL, it’s not about one person, me included, in a big way.”
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Parsons didn’t hold out at all this offseason. While he wasn’t a part of the team’s voluntary OTAs, he showed up for mandatory minicamp in Texas and has been present for training camp in California. Even after demanding a trade, Parsons remained with the team.
However, there hasn’t been any on-field participation. And Saturday was the first time Parsons didn’t wear his No. 11 practice jersey.
While Jones was around the team, too, Parsons and the owner did not share words, according to Jones.
“In March, I met with Mr. Jones to talk about leadership. Somehow, the conversation turned into him talking contract with me. Yes, I engaged in a back-and-forth in regards to what I wanted from my contract, but at no point did I believe this was supposed to be a formal negotiation, and I informed Mr. Jones afterward, my agent would reach out, thinking this would get things done,” Parsons wrote in his social media post.
“But when my agent reached out, he was told the deal was pretty much already done. My agent, of course, told him that wasn’t the case, and also reached out to Stephen Jones again, the team decided to go silent. At that point, we decided we would allow the team to reach out to us whenever they decided they wanted to talk. Yet, still not a call, email or text to my agent about starting a negotiation. … I have made a tough decision. I no longer want to play for the Dallas Cowboys. My trade request has been submitted to Stephen Jones, personally.”
Will the team try to honor Parsons’ trade request? Jones doesn’t plan on it at this time. He’s confident the situation will work itself out over time. The owner assured the Dallas fan base.
“Don’t lose any sleep over it,” Jones said, according to reports.
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