Would Micah Parsons reject final offer from Cowboys after trade request?

As of late Monday morning, Micah Parsons remained in the final year of his rookie contract after the Dallas Cowboys star pass-rusher shared on Aug. 1 that he wants to be traded. 

Many members of the NFL community understandably assumed that Parsons' public trade request was little more than a negotiation tactic amid his contract dispute with Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones. However, NFL insider Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk indicated on Monday that Parsons may no longer want to have Jones as a boss. 

"At a time when there are very real rumblings that the Cowboys will imminently be making the kind of offer they’re confident Parsons will take...it’s entirely possible that it’s too late for that," Florio reported. "The ship, we’re told, quite possibly has sailed. Parsons quite possibly will reject any offer he receives from the Cowboys on a long-term deal, because he no longer wants one. It all comes down to whether his trade request was a Myles Garrett-style bluff, or whether Micah meant every word of it."

Back in early February, Garrett revealed he wanted to be traded by the Cleveland Browns so that he could "compete for and win a Super Bowl" with an advertised contender. Browns general manager Andrew Berry, head coach Kevin Stefanski and team owner Jimmy Haslam later made it clear that Cleveland had no intention of trading Garrett ahead of the 2025 draft. Garrett then reversed course when he accepted a four-year, $160M contract extension that included $123.5M guaranteed to stay with the Browns. 

Shortly before the Pittsburgh Steelers opened training camp, they gave T.J. Watt a three-year, $123M extension that included $108M guaranteed and reset the market for edge-rushers. Most experts expect that Parsons will become the new highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL if he signs an extension this summer.

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott seemed confident that Jones would eventually work something out with Parsons when Prescott said ahead of this past weekend that "eleven is a Cowboy." However, Jones raised eyebrows when he said on Saturday he didn't "have anything to comment" regarding the Parsons saga. 

The Cowboys open the regular season with a Thursday night matchup at the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 4. It's unclear if Parsons will play in that game without having a signed extension in hand.