There was the snap where Micah Parsons ran unblocked from the left edge, and then the snap when he shed multiple blockers en route to a sack of Deshaun Watson.
There was the snap when Parsons lined up from the right and engaged then disengaged with backup left tackle James Hudson III en route to chasing Watson down in the backfield. And then the snap where Parsons collided with Watson just as he threw a pass that would land short of its intended receiver, Amari Cooper.
Only after these four pressures did the Cowboys and Cleveland Browns head to the locker room at halftime, the Browns trailing by 17 as they managed just one first down.
In Dallasâ 33-17 Week 1 win at Cleveland, Parsons ultimately generated nine pressures and one sack on Watson, with a 0.69-second get-off, per NFL Next Gen Stats, whose data considers 0.88 seconds âaverage.â
In short: Parsons dominated the game.
Micah Parsons gets first sack of year at end of Q1 vs. Deshaun Watson.
âGot a chip and beat it,â Tom Brady said on broadcast. âThis guy deals with more double teams⌠This is what you deal with when yourâe a great rusher.âpic.twitter.com/7hEZpuxXUU
â Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) September 8, 2024
And thus fans asked: When, and from whom, will the 2020 first-rounderâs payday come?
Parsons is entering the fourth year of his rookie deal, the final âcheapâ year before his fifth-year option raises his salary by a multiple greater than seven. Afterward, the two-time All Pro is expected to earn a hefty contract that likely resets the edge rusher market.
But the Cowboys complicated that plan in recent weeks as they signed two players to top-of-market deals or close.
Will the Cowboys be able to pay Parsons after awarding receiver CeeDee Lamb an extension worth $34 million a year and quarterback Dak Prescott a deal averaging a whopping $60 million?
Yahoo Sports asked league sources how theyâd handle the balancing act.
Team owner Jerry Jones fielded a question about his pocketbookâs future, too, during his Tuesday radio interview with Dallasâ 105.3 The Fan.
âIs Micah next?â the radio host asked. âIs he up now?â
Jones laughed.
âObviously, he had a great game out there Sunday and heâs an integral part of our teamâs future,â Jones said. âWeâll see where we go.â
Cowboysâ best road to extending Parsons
Two league executives and a third source who has negotiated top-of-market NFL contracts agreed: The salary cap will not prevent the Cowboys from signing Parsons to a mammoth second contract.
Teams run into financial barriers more often due to cash than cap considerations, and the Cowboys have the cash flow necessary to fund Parsonsâ extension.
So the question is not whether extending Parsons is possible, but whether extending him is preferable â and if so, in what structure.
Sources agreed that paying Parsons anything below market value is unrealistic at this point. Entering the 2023 season, the San Francisco 49ers awarded Nick Bosa an extension averaging $34 million a year with $122.5 million guaranteed. Consider the floor for Parsonâs deal just above that. The sooner heâs paid, the less his employer will have to adjust for market inflation.
Is there a scenario in which the Cowboys shouldnât pay Parsons?
Parsonsâ on-field play says pay him. Even as his production has proven inconsistent between games and scheme matchups, and dipped in the playoffs, his output ranked among the leagueâs best defenders last season.
Parsons generated the most pressures (99) and second-highest pressure rate (21.4%) among players who rushed the passer at least 300 times, per Next Gen Stats. Parsonsâ speed off the line contributed heavily to that as his 2.31-second time to pressure paced the entire league.
Only two defenders last season generated at least 50 âquick pressures,â or pressures within the first 2.5 seconds of a pass play. Parsonsâ 62 separated him from Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrettâs 54.
Pro Football Focus has graded Parsons as the second-best edge defender each of the past two years.
He said Sunday in the postgame locker room that heâll focus on his play more than his contract.
âI just got to keep doing what I’m doing, keep working, keep trying to be the best player I can be,â Parsons said. âKeep trying to win championships and then theyâll probably throw me a little something on the side.â
That mindset is something an NFC executive said theyâd be asking themselves before signing Parsons to that deal, even in light of his massive impact.
âDo you trust Micah?â the executive, who has negotiated a top defenderâs deal before, said. âI think thatâs a question everybody always asks before you do any of these major deals: What happens to the player once they are paid?
âYou don’t always have to pay [only] leaders, but it’s also one of those things: The locker room knows. So if you pay the wrong guy in the locker room, it’s really hard to come back from.â
If the Cowboys do award Parsons a deal worth at least $35 million per year, signing him before 2025 gives them a year at $21 million (via the fifth-year option on his rookie deal) to offset some of their annual cost. An AFC executive emphasized the importance to team culture of paying impactful players, particularly at premium positions which teams typically view as quarterback, edge rusher, left tackle and receiver.
Start there, the executive said, then draft well and make future tradeoffs.
The Cowboys appear to have demonstrated that strategy this offseason, including on their offensive line, letting their starting center and left tackle walk in cost-saving measures before starting in their place rookies who fared better than expectation in Week 1.
Will they continue that trend to lock up Parsons?
What does Jerry Jonesâ history tell us?
Where logic ends, emotion enters.
Emotion canât be undervalued as a scale-tipping factor when considering the Cowboysâ strategic moves.
Sure, Prescottâs contract has ample logical backing.
The Cowboysâ ninth-year starter finished second in MVP voting last season as he led the league in passing touchdowns and led his team to a 12-5 record for the third straight year. The top knock on Prescott is whether he can elevate his surrounding cast in postseason games as Dallasâ NFC title game and Super Bowl drought approaches its three-decade mark. The Cowboys ultimately decided not only is Prescott one of the better quarterbacks not named Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson in the NFL, but also heâs light-years ahead of any possible replacements.
And yet, Jones made clear to Prescott and to reporters that this deal was emotional for him. The team owner and general manager turns 82 next month.
âI hope Dak is our quarterback for the rest of my time,â Jones said hours after striking a deal. âWeâre going to be able to get players around him that give us a chance to compete for a Super Bowl. He was our best chance of getting one.â
Jerry Jones says Dak negotiations weren’t about belief in QB. They were about cost at which Cowboys felt confident building around Dak.
“Weâre going to be able to get players around him that give us a chance to compete for a Super Bowl. He was our best chance of getting one.” pic.twitter.com/XEPTLz0fu8
â Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) September 8, 2024
Will the Cowboys view Parsons as similarly integral to their best chance at hoisting a Lombardi Trophy? Parsons voiced belief this week that his next deal will come in Dallas.
âA lot of fans are worried about me,â Parsons said on his Bleacher Report show, The Edge. âI know Iâm gonna be a Cowboy. Thereâs nothing like Cowboy Nation. The love is very mutual.â
Parsons added that heâs focused right now on winning before earning.
âThe contract is not really what Iâm worried about,â he said. âIf the contract, something like that happens furthermore, then that happens. But right now weâre focused on trying to be legendary, be great and bring championships back to Dallas because thatâs what the most important thing is.â
If those championships arrive, Dallasâ answer to this question should be easy.
Jones intimated that he has a vision either way when he acknowledged that Prescottâs new payday does impact the finances the team can allot for Parsons.
âAny player you sign [will] impact it,â Jones said. âThe real question is the rest of the story, and that is, how do things evolve? Where are we when that time comes?
âYouâve got to have a plan, and believe you me, Iâm thinking ahead. Always have when it comes to Cowboys.â
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