Micah Parsons has had enough. After over a year of patiently waiting for a new, record-breaking extension, he has thrown his hands up in defeat and officially requested a trade.
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According to the message he sent out announcing his decision, the Dallas Cowboys negotiating team, led by the father-son duo of Jerry and Stephen Jones, has not even held a single official meeting with Parsons’ agent, David Mulugheta, since the player first raised the subject of a new deal. In fact, Parsons claims that Jones even tried to trick him into negotiating without his agent present.
While Jones had always claimed he was confident that they would get the deal done during the offseason—even after taking shots at Parsons’ injury record last year—he is no longer optimistic. When asked recently if he is confident that they will get a pact agreed prior to the team’s Week 1 season opener on September 4, he did not answer positively.
“No, absolutely not,” Jones said. “A big part of that is his decision. How would I know that?”
Player and owner have reportedly not spoken since Parsons’ public trade request, despite being within 10 yards of each other at a team practice this week. Jones harkened back to his 1989 deal to buy the Cowboys for $140 million to illustrate his negotiating style.
“I bought the Dallas Cowboys with a handshake. It took about 30 seconds, and uh, gave the number, shook hands, and the details we worked out later,” the 82-year-old said.
“As a matter of fact, one of the details involved a lot of money, and we had to flip a coin over that. But the fundamental, I’m buying, and you’re gonna sell it to me for that range. That’s done. And those are done with eye contact and handshake.”
He did acknowledge that this isn’t the 1980s anymore, and people do need things in writing now. Especially when it comes to player contracts. But Jones seems less than pleased with Parsons at the moment.
“Just so you understand the way that I communicate with people that I negotiate with. So, let’s leave it at that. There is no question, that in the case of a player contract, you have to have it in writing, all parties do. We have a contract in writing, yet we’re still talking about renegotiating, so, so much for that.”
“There’s points of varying degrees of influence of not having something done, but nothing that I would say is out of the ordinary.”
#Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was asked by @SlaterNFL how he could have a deal with Micah Parsons without anything in writing:
“I bought the Cowboys with a handshake. It took about 30 seconds. I gave the number, shook hands, the details we worked out later.” pic.twitter.com/AujA4bj1wC
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) August 6, 2025
It seems as though Jones believes he and Parsons verbally agreed on a deal that the player then reneged on. The fact that it was done without Parsons’ agent present was not a great look for the Cowboys’ owner/general manager, however.
There is a written contract ready to go, though, which is encouraging. That nugget of information also lends credence to the widespread hope within the Cowboys’ fanbase that a deal will get done before the season starts.
