Jerry Jones’ Handling of Micah Parsons Dispute Is ‘Unethical,’ Says Nick Wright

Another day has passed, and Micah Parsons still doesn’t have a new deal with the Dallas Cowboys.

One day after Parsons’ fiery trade request on Aug. 1, owner Jerry Jones had a brazen response to growing concerns surrounding the situation, insisting the standoff with the All-Pro pass rusher is no different from past situations he has dealt with. “Don’t lose any sleep over it,” Jones said. “That’s the one thing I would say to our fans.”

That led FOX Sports’ Nick Wright to outwardly criticize Jones on Monday’s edition of “First Things First.”

“The entire … press gathering was kind of surreal, even by Jerry’s standards,” he said. “The whole thing was bizarre, but what is very, very clear to me is two things. One of which is: Jerry feels like they (he and Parsons) had an agreement, and he wants to stick to it — and I think that that is an unethical way to do business. … My other big takeaway is this: Jerry wants to be the star of this negotiation. He made that very clear. … 

“I think ultimately it (a new deal) gets done. I don’t think Micah gets traded. I think Jerry ends up caving, but I also think … even if it gets done, they damaged the relationship significantly.”

Parsons and the Cowboys began contract discussions in January. Some discourse arose in April when Jones mentioned at the NFL’s annual league meeting that he was communicating directly with Parsons about a potential new deal, while Parsons let it be known that he wouldn’t be doing any deal without his agent, David Mulugheta, involved.

In June, Parsons said that he was “hanging in tight” and “hopeful” that he’d have a new deal done before the start of training camp on July 20. One day before the start of camp, Jones seemingly questioned Parsons’ durability by mentioning he missed a handful of games because of a high ankle sprain last season — the first time the 26-year-old had dealt with an injury in his professional career — when asked by reporters for an update on the negotiations.

While Parsons didn’t directly respond to Jones’ comment, he reshared a social media post from former NFL star J.J. Watt that read, in part, “Anytime you can publicly take a dig at your star quarterback and your star pass rusher simultaneously, right before the season begins, you just gotta take it.”

Parsons had reported to camp in Oxnard, California, but only observed from the sidelines and did not participate.

[MORE: Micah Parsons Next Team Odds: Will Cowboys Trade Star DE?]

Parsons made a proper commerce request this month, calling out the Jones household for the way they’ve dealt with contract negotiations and revealing that they have not “had a single dialog” along with his agent. “I now not wish to be right here,” Parsons wrote in a 1,000-plus-word statement. “I now not wish to be held to close-door negotiations with out my agent current. I now not need photographs taken at me for getting injured whereas laying it on the road for the group, our followers and my teammates. I now not need narratives created and unfold to the media about me.”

Parsons went on to say that he and Jones met in March to “speak about management” and that the dialog changed into a contract dialogue. “Sure, I engaged in a forwards and backwards [with] regards to what I needed from my contract, however at no level did I consider this was presupposed to be a proper negotiation,” Parsons revealed. “I knowledgeable Mr. Jones afterward my agent would attain out pondering this is able to get issues achieved. However when my agent reached out and spoke to (director of wage cap/participant contracts) Adam Prasifka, he was informed the deal was just about already achieved. My agent, in fact, informed him that wasn’t the case and … once more, the crew determined to go silent.”

Jones added extra gasoline to the hearth two days later, saying that former Cowboys star Dez Bryant — who publicly voiced his support for Parsons on social media — and Roc Nation Sports activities proprietor Jay-Z are the rationale why he does not prefer to cope with brokers in gamers’ contract discussions. The 82-year-old told reporters that Jay-Z stop taking his calls after the 2 spent hours negotiating a brand new contract for Bryant in 2015, a claim that Roc Nation quickly refuted.

A primary-round draft choose in 2021, Parsons has not less than 12.0 sacks in every of his 4 seasons in Dallas and has 52.5 for his profession. He additionally had 12 tackles for loss in 13 video games final season. Parsons goes into the fifth and last 12 months of his rookie deal and may very well be franchise tagged in 2026 with out an extension. He is set to make $24.007 million in 2025.

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