The Dallas Cowboys always have some of the most fascinating storylines in the NFL, but heading into 2024, it’s almost impossible to predict what Jerry Jones and company have planned.
If you listen to Jones, he’s sticking by his statement that Dallas is going “all in” for 2024 with the goal to finally get over the playoff hump and secure another Lombardi Trophy.
That logic made sense following the Cowboys’ early exit from the playoffs. They had a team loaded with talent on both sides of the ball and their franchise QB Dak Prescott, was leading the MVP conversation for most of the year and finished 2023 with one of his best statistical seasons as a pro. The Dallas Cowboys were undefeated at home and entered the playoffs as a No. 2 seed.
But as anyone with a pulse has come to expect, Dallas choked in the first round of the playoffs, falling to a young Green Bay Packers team who barely snuck into the postseason.
There were questions whether Jerry Jones would make significant moves after the loss, but he didn’t. He retained head coach Mike McCarthy for 2024 and made it clear Prescott was the team’s QB moving forward.
Almost every NFL Insider predicted the Dallas Cowboys would give Prescott a contract extension to free up cap space and add new talent in free agency — but instead — Jones hasn’t done a thing and is letting Dak Prescott play out the final year of his contract.
But there are questions surrounding the futures of the other two star players for the Cowboys, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons.
As of now, the organization hasn’t reached a contract extension with either player but the belief is Lamb will get a new deal done with the Cowboys before the start of the 2024 season.
CeeDee Lamb is coming off a first-team All-Pro campaign and only has one year left remaining on his rookie deal. He has established himself as an elite receiver, and that’s why Bleacher Report writer Alex Ballentine believes the Dallas Cowboys will make him one of, if not the highest-paid WR in the NFL.
“Of the top receivers on the market, Lamb feels like the least likely to be on the move… A contract that pays him $31 million annually qualifies and the Cowboys have the future cap space to make it happen. He’s certainly earned it after putting in his first All-Pro season in 2023. Prediction: Lamb signs a five-year, $155 million extension this summer,” Ballentine wrote on April 6.
Dallas Cowboys Not Extending Micah Parsons This Year, According To NFL Agent
NFL Insider Matt Lombardo recently revealed conversations with two NFL sources, both agents who are plugged in when it comes to teams and contract negotiations.
Lombardo came away with the firm stance that the Dallas Cowboys aren’t planning on extending Micah Parsons this year.
Speaking to multiple league sources, including agents familiar with the pass-rusher and linebacker markets, it sure sounds like Parsons will need to temper expectations when it comes to a new extension.
“He’s not getting an extension this year,” one prominent agent tells me. “Jerry closed up the books, I was told, but that’s unrealistic. So, who knows. But, Micah probably has to play out this year on his current deal.”
Parsons, whom the Cowboys classified as an edge rusher when exercising his fifth-year option, and will collect $21.32 million in 2025, instead of as a linebacker which would have paid him $24 million, may need to wait a while before signing that long-term extension.
A second agent suggests the Dallas Cowboys will use the franchise tag on Parsons next offseason, before even opening conversations about a long-term deal.
Dallas is set to have $83.1 million in cap space, as of today, in 2025. Added financial flexibility could change Jones’ and the Cowboys’ posture when it comes to a Parsons extension, but, it is estimated the defensive end franchise tag will count $24.3 million against the cap in 2025.
There’s always the minute possibility that the Cowboys trade Parsons this offseason, but that seems highly, highly unlikely for a team that believes it is going “all-in” on 2024 and using the upcoming season as a litmus test campaign for head coach Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott’s futures.
Parsons isn’t going anywhere, I wouldn’t think, but he isn’t likely to put pen to paper on an extension anytime soon, either. Either way, this yet another unsettling situation between the Dallas Cowboys and one of their superstar players.
