Loophole allows Cowboys to save nearly $3 million on Micah Parsons' fifth-year option

During the franchise tag era, many teams classified edge rushers as linebackers instead of defensive ends, as the former designation saves a bit of money under the tag formula. Grievances have stemmed from these decisions, with compromises being reached occasionally. The script may flip in Dallas.

This year’s franchise tag and fifth-year option numbers produced a higher linebacker salary than a defensive end. The LB tag is $24M, while the D-end is $21.32M. This will pertain to the Cowboys, who have previously refused to label Micah Parsons a full-on defensive end despite the team regularly lining up the star defender at that spot.

While the Cowboys will make one of the easiest fifth-year option calls in history by exercising Parsons’ 2025 guarantee, the Dallas Morning News’ Michael Gehlken notes that the team will classify Parsons as a defensive end when picking up the option.

Drafted as a linebacker, Parsons moved to regular edge rusher fairly early in his career. However, the Cowboys had previously stopped labeling the 2021 No. 11 overall pick a DE. The team would, however, stand to have a clear runway to label Parsons a DE due to the fast-rising star playing the bulk of his snaps at the position. Parsons played 87.8% of his defensive snaps on the D-line last season. With the Cowboys using a 4-3 scheme, this would not fall under the typical 4-3/3-4 dispute that commonly comes up regarding edge rushers’ tag or option numbers. Because Parsons has three original-ballot Pro Bowl nods on his resume, his fifth-year option doubles as the franchise tag number.

Currently, it would be unlikely that Parsons will play the 2025 season on his option. Three years ago, the Cowboys found a dominant defender with that No. 11 pick, and the Penn State product is on a clear path toward the Hall of Fame. He will command a top-market extension. The option number could play a part in the team’s extension approach, introducing a new wrinkle that usually plays out with teams preferring to label an edge rusher as a linebacker for financial purposes.

Since the 2011 draft began the option era, the Cowboys have extended four players (Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick, Zack Martin, Ezekiel Elliott) before they played a season on the fifth-year number. Smith, Frederick and Elliott signed new deals before their fourth seasons. Morris Claiborne and Byron Jones are the only Cowboys to play out a fifth-year option, doing so when it was guaranteed for injury only. Both left in free agency the following offseason. The Cowboys would surely use the franchise tag on Parsons in 2026 if his extension talks encountered a snag.

It will be interesting to see if Parsons follows Elliott’s playbook and forces the issue this offseason, though his February stance would not indicate as such yet. Players had more options regarding holdouts before the 2020 CBA changed the service-time requirement to prevent holdouts, leading to the hold-in tactic as a regular option during negotiations. The Cowboys will have Parsons attached to just a $2.99M base salary if he is not extended this season.

While most teams wait until Year 5 to extend first-round picks, the Cowboys have made exceptions in the past. However, the team has a big-ticket CeeDee Lamb extension to negotiate this offseason, along with a potential Dak Prescott re-up. A Parsons move may be tabled to 2025, putting the ball in the dominant sack artist’s court.