Jerry Jones gets defensive about Cowboys star's contract: 'He's not a back-burner issue'

The Cowboys have had a busy offseason, in which they’re still waiting for a good amount to get done. Yes, that offseason did include a changing of coordinators, the signing of some free agents and a draft, but what many have viewed as Dallas’ most pressing concerns have yet to be taken care of. Contract extensions for quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb have seemingly been on the forefront in the front office of late, but owner/president/general manager Jerry Jones insists that that doesn’t mean they aren’t thinking about defensive star Micah Parsons, as well, per Todd Archer of ESPN.

For the last several weeks, we have been seeing updates on the contract situations for Prescott and Lamb. Unlike Parsons, both players are on contract years. Like Parsons, though, both players are likely to set to high marks at their position for salary numbers. Prescott and Lamb are both hoping to earn new deals, but they’re set to receive $34M and $32.13M, respectively, in cash this year. They’d obviously prefer long-term security, but playing out their currents deals is not the end of the world.

It should be a much bigger priority for the team as the two make up cap hits of $55.13M and $17.99M, respectively. Signing their two offensive stars to new contracts would allow the Cowboys to reduce their cap impact for the 2024 NFL season providing a significant amount of breathing room to sign last-second veterans or push at the trade deadline. In order to do so, though, they are going to need to work harder to get new deals done.

The opposite situation applies to Parsons’ situation. This year, Parsons only represents a $5.43M cap hit for Dallas, and he’ll only receive $2.99M in cash — perhaps one of the league’s best bargains. The team also picked up his fifth-year option, so they know he’ll be under contract at least through next season. Still, Jones denies that the team is taking this approach.

“Well, first of all, I know what you’re implying,” Jones said in reply to a question asking the status of Parsons’ contract in regard to Lamb’s and Prescott’s. “He’s not a backburner issue, but that’s not the point. You’re saying, ‘how about the urgency of his contract?’ And I think that, obviously, Micah’s a key player for the Cowboys and, in my mind, just really getting started.

“It’s exciting with what (Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer)’s got him (doing), how he’s practicing, and what they’re thinking about how they might be using (him) to get more production.” Jones concluded, “He’s front and center, and his potential future, relative to contract, impacts our thinking today about contracts. So, in that sense, he’s in the view, the mirror.”

Jones’ comments don’t do much to ease any concerns that Parsons is on the backburner. He lauds Parsons for his impact on the field and is excited about how he’ll work with his new defensive coordinator. He even offers that Parsons’ potential extension impacts how they’re thinking about Prescott's and Lamb’s deals. But he doesn’t offer much in the way of progress on an actual Parsons extension.

It seems the Cowboys will do as they have done with Prescott and Lamb, taking advantage of every bit of time in Parsons’ current deal. They’ll likely scramble to try to make sure that they don’t have to pay the outrageous figures of the fifth-year option, but for now, Jones’ comments do not paint Parsons as a priority.