Poll: Will Micah Parsons have his contract extension before the NFL Draft?

We are officially inside of two weeks to the NFL draft which means that soon enough the Dallas Cowboys roster will look much different than it does right now.

There are a lot of assumptions as to what the Cowboys are going to do during the draft and whether or not they are going to address certain positions. Some things feel very obvious, but you never know what the draft is going to offer and what directions it is going to take you in.

One of the most important questions we have about this team at the moment technically has nothing to do with the draft. We have all been on Micah Parsons Extension Watch all offseason (and all of last offseason) and to date there does not appear to be an end in view.

Like the draft though, that is something that can change quickly. One offer can be close to what the other side wants and things can really take off. We have talked endlessly about the process that the Cowboys have when it comes to these extensions and how antiquated it feels relative to the rest of the league, and it is hard to understand why they are the way they are about this stuff.

BURNING QUESTION: How much is Micah Parsons going to cost them?

It’s a little comical that there’s some element of suspense attached to the extension Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will surely eventually give Parsons. Of all the massive deals Jones has paid recently, this one would feature easily the best player on the other side of the negotiating table. Dak Prescott (who inked a four-year, $240 million extension last September) is a really good quarterback, and CeeDee Lamb (who landed a four-year, $136 million extension last August) is a phenomenal receiver. Neither has been as impactful as Parsons, a difference-maker ever since he showed up in Dallas. With that being the case, why would anybody think Jones wasn’t going to take care of the player with the fifth-most sacks (52.5) of anyone in the NFL over the past four seasons? If we’ve learned anything from the Cowboys, it’s that the biggest stars will get their due, sooner or later. Parsons will be the highest paid non-quarterback in the league. It’s seemingly just a matter of time before he joins the $40 million-per-year club.

The last part of this blurb is particularly important as it notes “if we have learned anything from the Cowboys” it is that (paraphrasing a bit here) they will eventually cave and meet the demands of the superstars.

There were obvious benefits to extending both Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, but as noted, if those two ultimately got the green light from the front office, there is no doubt the light is the same color for Micah Parsons.

Parsons, quite simply, is one of the best players to come along in recent franchise history. He checks every single box in terms of being extension-worthy which is why it would have made sense to take care of it when he was first eligible (last year). If only there hadn’t been other contractual matters to tend to that were prolonged.

Sometimes the NFL draft can tell us about a team’s intentions with players on their roster. Recently here on the site, our own Jess Haynie discussed players currently on the roster who could find themselves in trouble (relatively speaking) following the draft. This is meant to say that these are players who could suddenly be pushed out sooner rather than later by replacements who are found in this year’s draft.

Now obviously the Cowboys are not going to draft someone that makes us believe Micah Parsons is in trouble, although interestingly when Parsons was drafted that served as the fullest and most visible signal that Leighton Vander Esch’s time with the team was coming to a close (he wound up getting more out of it to his credit).

But the point is that the draft is an inflection point of sorts so getting the Parsons extension done ahead of it would be good, smart and overall the best thing for everybody.