It’s a summer midday in Texas. The only thing hotter than the asphalt is the white-hot anticipation simmering around the Dallas Cowboys’ practice fields. Inside the perimeter, Micah Parsons, All-Pro edge rusher and one of the NFL’s most electrifying defenders, grins and sweats through drills as if the swirling headlines and contract rumors are meant for someone else. Jerry Jones’ usual contract chess moves are in play in the building. But beyond the fence, the debate is reaching a fever pitch. Will Parsons hold out for his record-setting payday? Or will he place his faith in the slow grind of negotiation that’s taking way too long?

Back in December 2024, the market prices were lower, and Micah Parsons wanted a deal. It wasn’t like he wanted a massive payday. He just wanted to help his franchise remain flexible. “It would be nice to be surrounded by good players. Players that will help me win championships, I’ll say that. To me, having $40 million and being chipped every play and slid into three, four people, that doesn’t sound too fun to me.” But training camp looms beyond the weekend, and a deal is still not in place. Parsons didn’t want a repeat of the ‘24 drama when CeeDee Lamb stayed away from the offseason programs because he didn’t have a deal. And he didn’t like it either. “Honestly, it was the worst, it was the worst ever…,” CeeDee admitted.

But now, this could be the only way to go for Parsons. This summer, NFL analysts and insiders haven’t kept their expectations (or frustrations) secret. As contracts for pass rushers have exploded, so has the price tag for Micah Parsons awaiting a contract extension. For a few glorious months, Myles Garrett sat on the throne with his $40 million a year deal. Then the Steelers decided to flip the script and handed TJ Watt a $41 million average annual value deal. After Watt’s historic payday, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio delivered a blunt prescription for Parsons: “I don’t think Parsons is going to come in at 41.1 million per year. I think Parsons is going to get in the neighborhood of 45, maybe more. Now, will the Cowboys keep dragging their feet?”

The Cowboys, for their part, are measured, almost maddeningly so. Jones waited till the last possible second to give CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott their new deals last year. Parsons, just 26, and four to five years younger than many of his contract-peers, is entering only his second deal. His earning window is as wide as his highlight reels. Yet Dallas continues to repeat history by playing the waiting games, a strategy that Florio calls out heatedly. “It’s moronic. It’s idiotic. – not about winning. And it never works.” With the market for elite defenders leaping from $35 million to $41 million in mere months, the cost of waiting rises with each news cycle. The “only benefit” Dallas can get out of it is Parsons’ holdout will have the media hounding Jones & Co. till a deal finally comes through.

Will Parsons use his enormous leverage and hold out of camp? Florio urges Parsons to force the Cowboys’ hand. “Micah don’t show up. – Don’t set foot on the practice field. Don’t do anything until they give you what you have earned. And the longer they wait, more it’s going to cost.” But is Parsons going for the holdout? The man himself doesn’t seem to think along those lines.

All in or all out? Micah Parsons’ training camp decision.

Despite the mounting chorus advocating disruption, he did show up at the minicamps. Just like he promised at the end of last year: “We can rush together, build that chemistry. So I think it’s extremely important that I’m back at OTAs and minicamp and all those types of things.” Okay, he skipped the OTAs, but half of that promise was still delivered. While other disgruntled stars have stayed home or staged media standoffs, Parsons has been all in with the Dallas crew. That feeling remains strong even now, but it doesn’t stop him from taking subtle shots at Jerry Jones.

On The Undertaker’s Six Feet Under podcast, Parsons openly questions ownership’s approach. “We obviously wanted to get done early. We want the relief off our backs. But, obviously, ownership is always gonna make it drag out, make it more complicated than it has to be. Lack of communication and that standpoint…” There was a time not so long ago that Parsons and Jones had almost agreed on a deal. But that was before he received the inside news of how much the Steelers will pay Watt. Jones took too long and now he can see the window of opportunity disappearing from his grasps. But Parsons is still all-in with the team. As he further added on the podcast, “I just keep working, keep going, and then when it comes, I’m gonna be ready. But, you know, ain’t gonna be no dropoff.” 

For Parsons, the strategy is inheritance, not absence: betting on his talent in public, not pouting in private. On one hand, there’s his determination to ball out with his team. On the opposite lies Jerry Jones, watching the numbers get bigger on a check he refuses to sign. So what’s next? In the arms race for NFL edge rushers, the clock never stops. But neither, it seems, does Micah Parsons.