“You Don’t Ever Talk About Someone’s Family”: Emmanuel Acho Calls Out Jerry Jones for Disrespecting Micah Parsons’ Agent

It wouldn’t be a Dallas Cowboys contract negotiation without a little bit of drama, eh? For a New York minute, it seemed that Micah Parsons and Jerry Jones had agreed on a new record-setting extension. But there was a small caveat: Parsons’ agent, the all-powerful David Mulugheta, needed to sign off on the deal, as he was not involved in the negotiations.

At first, it seemed like a small detail that wouldn’t be an obstacle. Boy, were we wrong on that one. Since then, Jones has stuck his foot in his favorite place—his mouth—by disrespecting Mulugheta when asked about the Parsons negotiations.

Jones essentially downplayed the role of agents in general—and by extension, Mulugheta—in contract negotiations. Unfortunately for him, Mulugheta’s firm, Athletes First, and Mulugheta himself are known for building real and authentic relationships with their clients.

Both Mulugheta and Parsons have referred to one another as family on multiple occasions. Maybe Jones knew that, maybe he didn’t, but as Emmanuel Acho pointed out, the Cowboys’ loquacious owner is likely to regret the oversight.

“If you know Micah Parsons’ agent, it’s about as dumb as a thing as Jerry Jones could’ve done. ‘I don’t know his name.’ His name, David Mulugheta… Who that is, is a person that negotiated a fully guaranteed contract for Deshaun Watson that people are still chasing,” Acho said on The Facility before continuing,

“Who that is, is a person that negotiated the deals for Jayceen Horn and also Derek Stingley, the highest-paid cornerbacks in the history of the NFL… Why, Jerry Jones, you will regret these comments, is because you talked about Micah Parsons’ family. And you don’t ever talk about a person’s family.”

For context, Jones had spoken to the media on this topic on Tuesday, and he was less than diplomatic. While he said he wasn’t trying to “demean” Parsons’ agent, he talked about him and his profession rather flippantly. Now, agents are generally no saints themselves, but the way Jones spoke was in bad taste.

“The agent is not a factor here, or something to worry about. And I don’t know his name. And so, my point is, and I’m not trying to demean him in anyway, but this isn’t about an agent. An agent doesn’t have one thing to do with what we’re doing when we get on the football field against a team. Micah does. To the degree I’m involved, I do,” said Jones candidly.

The 82-year-old owner even reminisced about signing deals with former players Emmitt Smith and Deion Sanders without their agents present.

“This is not uncommon. I’ve negotiated directly as far back as Emmitt and Deion, and we, by the way, maintain a relationship that lasted well after their playing days.”

Jones’ comment about signing contracts without agents only served to highlight how much the business of football has changed over the last 30 years.

Micah Parsons speaks out

Longtime Cowboys beat reporter Clarence Hill Jr. tweeted a summary of Jones’ quote, which was retweeted by Parsons with a pretty confusing message. It was originally reported that he had negotiated with Jones directly, essentially behind his agent’s back.

But now, it seems that the report may have been misconstrued, as Parsons is clearly not interested in direct negotiations with Dallas.

“Facts!! David is the best and I will not be doing any deal without @DavidMulughetainvolved! Like anyone with good sense I hired experts for a reason. There is no one I trust more when it comes to negotiating contracts than David! There will be no backdoors in this contract negotiation,“ the pass rusher tweeted.

With some other agents, this type of thing might fly. But Mulugheta wields more power than most. He represents three other players on the Cowboys (which makes it pretty unlikely Jones really didn’t know his name), including starting safety Malik Hooker. He also negotiated those historic deals for Watson, Horn, and Stingley and represents some 40 NFL players overall.

Jerry Jones might have to return to the negotiating table, hat in hand, after this debacle.