Jerry Jones' Top Quotes on Micah Parsons Contract Talks from Stephen A. Smith Show

Thirteen days away from the Dallas Cowboys' first game of the 2025 NFL regular season, Jerry Jones went on Friday's episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show to talk about Micah Parsons' contract status.

Jones remains insistent that Parsons' agent, David Mulugheta, is not a key factor in the negotiations. He told Smith there are "three entities that really count" in the situation, citing himself and Parsons as the two primaries before declaring "that agent" sitting about a "mile back" of them:

"These are the two to get it done. "Always has," Jones said in reference to himself and Parsons. "And these are the two that'll be sitting there working it out when it hits the fan, when it's not between the lines on that contract. That's why I'm going to do it. Micah's got an agent, and that agent is within a phone call of talking about any detail that was there and was available with any detail that was there."

Jones also spoke about his perspective that Parsons has agreed to the length and guaranteed money in the deal before again blaming Mulugheta for it not getting done:

"We have agreed on how long this is going to be, and we've agreed on the amount of guarantees it's going to be. The package is the biggest ever paid a non-quarterback. That's where we are, but because a third party, rather than me and Micah, has got to come in. Why? Because he's gotta get his fingerprint on it. You're not talking to the owner of the Dallas Cowboys. You're talking to the general manager of the Cowboys, and so all these team owners may not be involved. But in this case, I am the general manager. My job is to do the contract. My job is to sit down. What's an issue is not whether I should be negotiating the contract. The issue is who I negotiate it with. We negotiate. We go back and forth. We come through. We go the next day. We negotiate. Get it all done. I get a call (from Parsons), 'I don't want you to call me anymore.'"

When Smith sought clarification from Jones that Parsons told him not to contact him directly, the Cowboys owner responded: "That's correct."

Jones then went on to say Mulugheta contacted him to start a discussion about Parsons' contract. "We've had the negotiation, period," Jones responded.

Jones did note the Cowboys can keep Parsons for three seasons even without getting an extension done because he's already under contract for 2025, then he can use the franchise tag in 2026 and 2027.

"Now if you summed up what I'm going to pay him through what I'm going to pay him this year and those two years (on the tag), it is much, much, much less—about 60 percent—of what I offered him," Jones said, while acknowledging he believes Parsons is the team's best player.

Parsons is owed just over $24 million in base salary this season. ESPN's Bill Barnwell noted the projected value for two franchise tags in 2026 and 2027 would be a combined $60 million, which is fully guaranteed.

Based on Jones' calculation that his proposal is roughly 60 percent more than that, the offer to Parsons includes roughly $134.4 million in guaranteed money. That doesn't factor in some of the potential finer points that we have seen cause holdups in contracts this offseason.

For example, Trey Hendrickson told ESPN's Laura Rutledge this week that he is in agreement with the Cincinnati Bengals on years and total value but the guaranteed money remains a sticking point.

Jones went on to explain that the reason recent negotiations with some of the Cowboys star players, like Dak Prescott, took as long as they did is because of how a team can be negatively impacted if the big-money contract doesn't pan out:

"I'm gonna say 12 to 15 percent of the players in the NFL get two-thirds of the money. So that means when you start talking about these hundreds-of-millions-of-dollar commitments to a player, you gotta make sure you're right. One miss in that area makes up for paying three or four Pro Bowlers that are paid less than that. Those are critical things. That's why Dak Prescott's got all put together in the way that it did, with the deliberateness that it did, and that's why it took us two years of just these same circumstances to get to his contract."

While it is true there is a level of risk from the team's perspective when doing an expensive multiyear contract, the Cowboys have cost themselves more money by waiting to do deals for players like Prescott and CeeDee Lamb.

The Cowboys could have presented Prescott with an extension offer going into the 2023 season when the top of the quarterback market was $52.5 million. They waited until the start of the 2024 season and wound up paying $60 million per season.

CeeDee Lamb was also extension eligible for the first time after the 2022 season. Tyreek Hill was the only wide receiver making at least $30 million annually going into the 2023 campaign.

Instead, the Cowboys waited until after 2023 to start negotiating with Lamb. Justin Jefferson, DeVonta Smith, A.J. Brown and Jaylen Waddle all signed new deals. Jefferson and Brown's contracts were for more than $30 million per season.

Lamb wound up getting an extension worth $136 million over four years ($34 million annually). Barnwell's article suggested the Cowboys cost themselves an extra $63.9 million by waiting to get contracts done with Prescott and Lamb.

Jones did emphasize that the Cowboys "need" Parsons to win, and he's "confident" they will have him. At the same time, he also tried to put pressure back on Parsons by saying he "can't imagine" a player sitting out three years in reference to long the team can control his rights if no extension gets done.

Parsons has been arguably the best defensive player in the NFL since entering the league in 2021. The 26-year-old has racked up 112 quarterback hits, 63 tackles for loss and 52.5 sacks in 63 games over the past four seasons.

The Cowboys made the playoffs in each of Parsons' first three seasons. They didn't rank lower than seventh in points allowed per game during that stretch.