Micah Parsons was standing outside of the Wynn Las Vegas hotel last February when he heard a familiar voice yell: “Micah! Where are you going?”
It was Jerry Jones. “Are you going to the game,” the Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager then asked. Both were in town for Super Bowl LVIII between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers. The game was just hours from kickoff.
Parsons responded that he would not be attending. Jones asked if he wanted to go with him, watching from an Allegiant Stadium suite. It was an easy decision for the young All-Pro pass rusher.
“We got a chance to talk for a few hours,” Parsons said. “It goes to show you how generous and caring he is. He broke me down about life and football and how he sees the players, how he sees the team and where he wants to go with us. The fact that he did that with me, it goes to show that our relationship is growing and he trusts me.”
The two are expected to have a similar experience Friday night at AT&T Stadium. Parsons and Jones plan on sitting together in Jones’ owners suite for the College Football Playoff semifinal Cotton Bowl game between Texas and Ohio State.
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Parsons envisions their conversations will be about the future of the team. These are some of the questions he shared with reporters:
• Where does he see us going?
• How can we become contenders?
• How do we bounce back from this year?
• What are the plans?
“I hope he asks me things too,” Parsons added. “Jerry has always been so great to me in every aspect. It’s going to be great to talk to the guy that kind of believed in me first to see what the mission is and how we’re going to accomplish it to make us happy and really make the fans happy.”
Parsons declined to share what he thinks the team needs specifically. But he has made it known that he would like the Cowboys to be aggressive in free agency and re-sign some of their own defensive free agents, like defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa, defensive end Chauncey Golston and cornerback Jourdan Lewis.
He also got an early start on offseason recruiting on Monday as he tweeted at Miami Dolphins star wide receiver Tyreek Hill: “We can be the fastest duo in the league!!! We also don’t have state income taxes!”
Hill said Sunday that he wants out of Miami. He has two years remaining on the three-year, $90 million deal he signed in August.
@cheetah we can be the fastest duo in the league!!! 🦁🐆 we also don’t have state income taxes!
— Micah Parsons (@MicahhParsons11) January 6, 2025
Something that is also likely to be discussed between Parsons and Jones is Parsons’ future with the franchise. He is entering the final year of his rookie contract. He’s hopeful an extension can be worked out as soon as possible to help the team have the flexibility to add talent.
“I called upon the star,” he said. “I landed on it, and I’m grateful. I feel like I got one of the best jobs in America. … I don’t want to hold anybody up. I want to see some of these (free agents) back in this locker room. We have a great opportunity. I want to see change. I want to see players here. I want to be as aggressive as we can be. I don’t want to be a headache to nobody.”
Getting a deal done in the next couple of months seems unlikely just because of the way contracts have been done recently between the Cowboys and their top players. Jones doesn’t think timing was an issue as it took until right before the start of the season to get Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb signed.
“His talent makes a difference,” Jones said of Parsons. “And it made a difference out here (Sunday). I’ll take that into real consideration, the fact that he was here and then he wasn’t here (because of injury) and then I’ll look at how I feel like we got behind the eight-ball when he wasn’t here. I’ll take into consideration a lot about our entire situation. Micah makes a big difference out there. He’s made a difference the last three years out there. That’s a fact.”
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Parsons has said that he doesn’t need to be the league’s highest-paid defensive player. Although, his production on the field could certainly warrant that type of deal. He recorded 2 1/2 sacks Sunday, giving him 12 on the season despite missing four games with a high ankle sprain. Legendary pass rusher Reggie White is the only other player since 1982 to record at least 12 sacks in each of their first four seasons.
“I get that Myles Garrett is a freak of nature,” Parsons said. “We’re different freaks in our own way. But I can’t say that there are three or four people better than me in this league. I missed four games and I put up the same numbers as some of these guys that played all year.”
The best stat Parsons had entering the 2024 season is that the Cowboys won 12 games in each of his first three years in the league. There’s no question that his immediate impact provided a significant spark to a team that didn’t have much of a defensive identity. But a slow start and then several key injuries, including his own, made another 12-win season look unrealistic before they even reached their bye week.
It’s safe to say he doesn’t envision another 7-10 season.
“This is the lowest of the lows,” Parsons said Sunday night. “If you give myself another opportunity and you give this locker room another opportunity, and attack this thing the right way, I promise you we’ll be a playoff-contending team next year.
“… I’m glad I went through this this year. It was humbling, to be re-grounded, to be reset, like, ‘OK, hold on. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. We’re not blowing teams out. Every game is going to be a battle. OK, I’ve been tested.’ It’s part of my testimony. Now, let’s go play some ball next year.”
(Photo of Chauncey Golston, Micah Parsons, Osa Odighizuwa: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)
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