When T.J. Watt was due for a contract extension, the last thing the Pittsburgh Steelers wanted was to drag their feet and have their best player ink his deal just days before the 2025 season (like they did with Watt in 2021). General manager Omar Khan was able to get Watt signed before training camp, and the focus now is solely on football. The same can't be said for Micah Parsons and the Dallas Cowboys.
The Steelers and Cowboys appeared to be locked in a race to see which team could get an extension done with their respective superstar edge rusher this offseason. After Cleveland Browns All-Pro Myles Garrett already broke the bank, earning $40 million per year in new money average, we knew the next guy up between Watt and Parsons would top that.
Since the Steelers handed Watt a three-year, $123 million contract extension, the ball has been in Dallas' court to appease their superstar pass rusher. However, recent reports suggest these talks aren't going well at all.
On Friday morning, Dianna Russini of The Athletic dropped a post on X detailing the 'deteriorated' relationship between Parsons and the Cowboys.
"The Micah Parsons-Cowboys relationship has deteriorated to the point where the star pass rusher is considering drastic measures which could include a trade request or even a declaration that he is severing his relationship with the team, per multiple league sources familiar with the situation," Russini wrote."
Russini added that the two sides remain far apart on a potential heading into the second week of training camp. She also stated that Parsons spoke directly with owner Jerry Jones over multiple days in the spring. But here's where it gets really messy.
"Parsons believed the talks were just conversations and wanted his agent to handle the negotiations, Russini continued. "When his agent attempted to start negotiations, the Cowboys declined to engage with him and told the pass rusher that they believed they already had a deal. Now, the team is refusing to engage with Parsons' agent at all, creating a tense standoff amid increasing friction."
The Pittsburgh Steelers can be glad they avoided the nightmare the Dallas Cowboys are in
We can debate until we're blue in the face whether the Pittsburgh Steelers should have paid T.J. Watt $41 million per season entering his age-31 season. Watt's new deal makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, and this comes after Watt went quiet down the final stretch of the year and earned just 11.5 sacks on the year.
However, what every Steelers fan can be happy about is that they don't have to deal with a contract extension standoff, which takes the focus away from the 2025 season.
I do not doubt that the Dallas Cowboys will eventually pull off a Micah Parsons extension. This might not come until days before the season, but we've seen similar scenarios play out in the past with quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. But is it worth tarnishing relationships over contract language when they know they want Parsons to be around for the long haul?
Jones and the Cowboys should know better than to try to go behind the agent's back and to get Parsons to agree to a deal without his agent's approval. A sticky situation in Dallas just got worse, and it sounds like Micah Parsons could even resort to drastic measures to get the extension he feels he deserves.
Thank goodness the Pittsburgh Steelers were able to avoid all of this drama by getting T.J. Watt signed before training camp.