Insider shares huge update on how long contract standoff between Cowboys, Micah Parsons may last

Dallas Cowboys star pass-rusher Micah Parsons reported for training camp on Monday even though he remains in the final year of his rookie deal.

During Tuesday's edition of the ESPN "Get Up" program, NFL insider Adam Schefter indicated that the contract standoff between Parsons and the Cowboys may not be settled anytime soon. 

"The Dallas Cowboys have not even made a contractual offer to Micah Parsons yet," Schefter said, as shared by Liam McKeone of Sports Illustrated. "So this is a conversation that apparently could linger on through the summer because they're nowhere in the negotiation game. And this is a familiar script for the Dallas Cowboys. We've seen it before from them. They did this very same thing last year."

Schefter was referencing how the Cowboys and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb agreed to a four-year, $136M deal in late August 2024. Hours before Dallas' regular-season opener on Sept. 8 of last year, news broke that the club was giving quarterback Dak Prescott a four-year contract extension reportedly worth $240M with $231M guaranteed.

As for Parsons, he recently insisted he is "going to get mine no matter what" after Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns and T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers reset the market for players at the position. Garrett received a four-year, $160M extension that included $123.5M guaranteed back in March. Watt accepted a three-year, $123M extension that included $108M guaranteed in time to report to training camp. 

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones almost certainly cost himself more money by not getting a deal done with Parsons in 2024. Parsons' future extension could become even more expensive for Jones if unsettled Cincinnati Bengals veteran Trey Hendrickson agrees to a contract before the Cowboys work things out with Parsons. 

Unlike Parsons, Hendrickson did not report for the first day of training camp. 

"The way to afford these things, sometimes, is to get out in front of them and to act sooner, which is something they didn't do last year and are not doing again this year," Schefter added. 

Parsons noted on a recent podcast that "ownership is always gonna make it drag out" and make a contract negotiation "more complicated than it has to be." It sounds like Dallas fans can expect more of the same from Jones through August.