As one of the most important assets of the Dallas Cowboys on the field, it did not come as a surprise to many that the NFC East division franchise decided to pick up its 2025 option on defensive star Micah Parsons, as reported by Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News.
“Cowboys officially picked up hybrid DE Micah Parsons’ fifth-year option for 2025, a person familiar with the move said. Salary is worth $21.32 million as a defensive end, which is the position at which he played the majority of his 2023 snaps. How the designation is determined.”
This means that the Cowboys will have control of Parsons for at least two more seasons. And because he spent most of the time in the 2023 NFL campaign assuming the defensive end role for Dallas, the Cowboys managed to save around $3 million by paying him as a defensive end rather than as a linebacker–which would have earned him more money. The former Penn State football star will earn a base salary of $2.989 million in 2024 — the last year of his rookie deal with the Cowboys which he signed for $17 million back in 2021. In 2025, his salary will rise to $21.324 million.
Micah Parsons' career with the Cowboys
Parsons, who was selected by the Cowboys in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft as the 12th overall pick of that class, has been a force to reckon with on the field ever since he started to see action in the pros. He had 13.0 sacks to go with 84 combined tackles, 20 tackles for loss, and 30 quarterback hits through 16 games (all starts) in his rookie season, thus earning him both a Pro Bowl nod and a First-Team AP All-Pro selection and, most notably, the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.
There was no sophomore slump for Parsons as well, as he racked up 13.5 sacks, 65 total tackles, 13 tackles for loss, and 26 quarterback hits in 17 games in 2022 to earn another Pro Bowl selection and First-Team AP All-Pro honors. He even finished eighth overall in the league in MVP voting that season.
In the 2023 NFL season, Parsons continued his rise as one of the best defensive weapons in the league. He played the entire campaign again with 17 games to his name and along the way collected a career-high 14.0 sacks, 64 combined tackles, 18 tackles for loss, and 33 quarterback hits. After finishing runner-up to San Francisco 49ers star Joey Bosa in the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year voting, Parsons went third in the 2023 voting, just trailing Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns and TJ Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the voting.
Despite his already impressive three-year start to his NFL career, his best days in the pros could still be in front of Parsons. While the Cowboys may have found a way to save up a few millions by designating Parsons, who will be turning 25 in May, as a defensive end, they know that they will have to dig deep into their pockets and come up with a large sum of money if they are to keep Parsons for years beyond the 2025 NFL season.
In any case, Parsons will continue as the anchor of the Cowboys' stop unit that finished the 2023 campaign ranked ninth overall with 20.2 points allowed per game and eighth with a 7.99 percent defensive sack rate.
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