From time to time, Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones skirts the issue of linebacker Micah Parsons deserving a new contract by pointing out that Micah has a contract. However, there’s a lingering fight over the value of his deal.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, a grievance was filed earlier this year regarding Parsons’s fifth-year option salary. The Cowboys and the NFL have his salary at $21.324 million. Parsons believes his salary should be $24 million.
Most resources already show Parsons as having a $24 million salary, including the NFL Players Association public player salary database. But the true number from the NFL’s perspective, pending the resolution of the grievance, is the lower amount.
The issue arises from the position Parsons plays. The Cowboys have listed him as a defensive end; that leads to the $21.324 million salary. Parsons believes he is a linebacker, which points to the higher amount.
And while he’s listed as a defensive end, Parsons won the 2021 Defensive Rookie of the Year award as a linebacker. He made the Pro Bowl in 2022, 2023, and 2024 as a linebacker. (Parsons somehow was snubbed for the 2021 Pro Bowl.)
In 2021, Parsons was a first-team Associated Press All-Pro linebacker. For 2022, he was a first-team All-Pro edge rusher. In 2023, Parsons was a second-team All-Pro edge rusher.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement provides that the fifth-year option will be calculated based on the position “at which the [player] participated in the most plays during his third League Year.” And so the grievance ultimately will be driven by, based on the CBA, a one-play-at-a-time calculation of whether he was a linebacker or a defensive end. Throw in the reality that linebackers often line up as edge rushers, and the process becomes more complicated.
Given the blurred lines between the two positions, that may not be good enough. Especially since Parsons firmly believes he was, and is, a linebacker.
It’s just another point of contention between Parsons and the Cowboys as the final year of his rookie deal commences, with a $2.676 million gap between the respective positions.
