Here is billionaire Jerry Jones, driving a jalopy of a bus in the passing lane. Operating at merge-lane speeds, he twists the radio volume knob to the left, covers the fuel gauge, chucks his navigation system out the window and hammers the brakes.
The Cowboys woke up Friday to find an owner-slash-general manager and franchise walking down the on-ramp toward the 2025 regular season.
Even Madden NFL simulations reject the Micah Parsons-to-Green Bay deal that Dallas executed on Thursday, an inexplicable maneuver from a front office claiming to be “all in” to win another Super Bowl.
Perhaps the only GM who could make Mavericks personnel maestro Nico Harrison look good even after trading franchise centerpiece Luka Doncic, Jones threw a tantrum for the entire league to see — and the Cowboys will be paying for it for years to come.
Parsons, one of the top three defensive players in the NFL, is hitting his physical prime and has all the goods to be wearing a gold jacket in 15 years.
While Jones went public with insults and insinuations, all Parsons was guilty of in Dallas was dominating and following the very precedent Jones himself set.
Parsons himself did not pay CeeDee Lamb a record-setting contract to end his holdout that lasted the duration of training camp in 2024.
He didn’t write the check to bring guard Zack Martin back on the field with a contract structured to push his pay closer to the top of the interior offensive line market.
There was no Venmo transfer to Dak Prescott from Parsons when the quarterback said he could easily envision playing for another franchise last year.
Jones wrote those checks. Jones paved that path. And when Jones changed his mind about how he’d handle the same situation with Parsons, he created an undertow to be felt by his franchise well beyond 2025.
The episode that ended with punting Parsons to the Packers for a pair of first-round picks and a defensive tackle coming off his worst season in the league, Kenny Clark, began in late July with Jones making the comment that even if he paid Parsons, there was no guarantee he would take the field. While Jones whined that the elite pass rusher missed six games — factually speaking, Parsons missed four games with a high ankle sprain last season — Parsons decided he was done in Dallas.
He aired his position publicly in a social media comment, claiming he made a face-to-face trade request to Jones’ son and Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones.
August calendar days flipped by with no sign of a breakthrough. Parsons was sitting out practice with back tightness, not wanting to risk injury with no guaranteed money on his deal beyond the fifth-year option for 2024 at around $22 million. He had already gone a step further in commitment than Lamb, who was a true holdout away from the team last summer.
Jerry Jones being Jerry Jones, he took “back tightness” as a code word for double birds from No. 11.
Even still, he insisted the power and leverage were on his side, with the Cowboys. He balked at talk of a trade, calling any chatter “pure B.S.” and scoffed at the notion any player would sit out “three years,” a direct line in the sand meant for Parsons’ ears to take the reported $41 million-per-year offer or accept being tagged as a franchise player the next two years (2026, 2027).
What was lost in Jones’ red-faced insistence on winning this particular negotiation is what Parsons means to the team. What signing him means to the locker room. What paying market value for a future Hall of Fame pass rusher does the next time a big-name free agent hits the market.
Only a year after declaring Derrick Henry’s price was too high for a 30-year-old free agent running back — he rushed for 1,921 yards and 16 touchdowns, then got 270 more in two playoff games with the Ravens — Jones apparently didn’t like the idea of discussing a record-setting deal with Parsons’ agent. This, of course, happens to be governed as NFL law by the CBA with the players association.
Without Parsons, the Cowboys are a limited defense with a few capable parts and not much more. The burden shifts to a high-priced offense with Prescott, Lamb, a running back committee you’ve never heard of and, lest we forget, three of Jones’ last four first-round picks along the offensive line.
Even if first-time head coach Brian Schottenheimer can win a game or five that he shouldn’t, Jones already pulled the rug from beneath his coaches by taking away the only defensive player other teams game plan to stop.
Unless performance improves for the four players the Cowboys drafted in the first round since hitting the lottery with Parsons at No. 11 overall — the three OLs and bust-track DT Mazi Smith — hope for turning Thursday’s trade into a win is far-fetched.
The problem in Dallas pays the bills. He thrives on proving his point. And the Cowboys better buckle up. His way now means walking aimlessly down the highway.