Listening to the chatter, the Dallas Cowboys believe Micah Parsons will play in Week 1. But Stephen A. Smith said he shouldn’t do it without a deal in place. Furthermore, an NFL insider is not expecting a Parsons “Hail Mary” in terms of signing a new deal, according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano.
“What I'm hearing: Parsons continues to sit out practices as he awaits a contract extension, but this situation has gone sideways,” Graziano wrote. “Team owner and GM Jerry Jones believes he and Parsons agreed on the parameters of a deal back in the spring and that the deal changed materially once Parsons got his agent involved.
“Parsons, meanwhile, believes it's Jones who is to blame; that the owner should have always anticipated that he'd be dealing with the agent. Parsons has demanded a trade and refused to participate in practice or preseason games.”
But remember, these are the Cowboys. Drama tends to be their thing. Look for the deal to get done in advance of the season opener.
Will Cowboys pacify edge rusher Micah Parsons?
According to Graziano, time is running out fast on the Cowboys.
“The Cowboys' season begins a week from Thursday in Philadelphia, and as the days dwindle, it looks less likely that Parsons will show up and play,” Graziano wrote. “Don't expect a last-minute Hail Mary like the deal Dallas did with QB Dak Prescott on the morning of last season's opener. Prescott was practicing, and the two sides had been talking. This thing seems a lot more frosty, and Jones appears dug in.”
Parsons could take matters into his own hands and have his agent accept a more team-friendly deal. Or he could play on his current contract. Also, he could choose to sit out as long as the Cowboys refuse to come to his terms.
But the bottom line is this: Parsons is a football player. NFL superstars only have so many seasons in their prime. There’s no common sense that suggests a player with the ego of Parsons would sit on the sidelines and miss out on a prime season. Listen to his words from last year, according to nytimes.com.
“I think I’m the best player in the world,” Parsons said. “I don’t throw numbers out there like that. I’ll see what they’re willing to give me.”
And Jerry Jones doesn’t like to lose football games. If Parsons doesn’t play in Week 1, the Cowboys will stand a much greater chance of losing to the Eagles. That’s a division loss right off the bat. And it doesn’t make sense that Parsons or Jones would risk that.
