Chris Canty believes Micah Parsons has hurt the Cowboys’ culture by constantly speaking out on his podcast. He argues that Parsons has been such a negative presence in the locker room that the team should trade him before things get worse. With such a bold claim, even Stephen A. Smith—who has criticized Parsons in the past—felt compelled to defend the star edge rusher, instead pointing the finger at the team’s owner as the real problem.
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Canty brought up two instances that he deems “bad culture” from Parsons’ podcast, The Edge, this past year. The first, he mentioned, was when the linebacker was creating a top-five current QB list, and he snubbed his teammate Dak Prescott.
Then, Canty pointed out how, last year in the locker room, Parsons disregarded his head coach, Mike McCarthy, in the media and instead credited the team’s success to the players. However, Stephen A. and Mina Kimes both felt these were trivial critiques.
Stephen A. clapped back by noting that if his owner, Jerry Jones, runs his mouth so much, what’s the point in calling out Parsons?
“When it comes to running your mouth, how the hell are you going to knock him for running his mouth when his owner, his president, his GM, runs his mouth more than him? And runs it more than anybody on the team. Don’t give me this nonsense about Micah Parsons, brother is the real deal. You don’t move him for those reasons,” said the analyst.
And Stephen A. didn’t stop there. He thoroughly picked apart every aspect of Canty’s argument, including Parsons snubbing Dak in his top-five quarterback list.
“So what!?” Stephen A. screamed. “That man’s getting paid 60 million dollars. 60 million dollars! The highest-paid quarterback in the league, and brother got two playoff victories. Jalen Hurts has been in the league less, he’s got two Super Bowl appearances and a championship. Jayden Daniels is a rookie and he got to an NFC Championship game.”
“We’re still waiting on year 10 for Dak. Why the hell should Parsons go out and call him a top-five quarterback? Damnit, earn it!” he continued.
Stephen A. pulled no punches in his critique of Canty’s argument, making it clear that he found it completely bogus and that we should just move on. But he didn’t stop there—he also had thoughts on Canty’s McCarthy argument.
He mentioned how McCarthy was archaic but convinced Jones to give him the job and subsequently pushed out the best offensive mind in Kellen Moore. Not only that, but McCarthy threw Moore under the bus at the time, claiming the team was passing too much and the defense was getting worn out. Yet, after Moore left, McCarthy did the exact same thing.
Now, Moore has a head coaching job in New Orleans, while McCarthy is left kicking rocks and waiting for the next offseason.
At the end of the day, Canty’s take was foolish. He argued that the Cowboys don’t have enough salary cap space to ensure Dak, CeeDee Lamb, and Micah Parsons all get paid while still building a competent team around them.
But as Kimes pointed out, you don’t construct a team from the outside in. You find your stars and build inside out—pay your key players first, then figure out the ancillary options later. It’s how every GM builds a roster.
Stephen A’s roasting of Canty was just downright hilarious though, and makes it worth checking out the clip.
