This weekend, star pass rusher Micah Parsons will return to the stadium in which he played the first four years of his NFL career. As many revisit the dramatics that led to his exit from Dallas, a few interesting new details and retellings have emerged. 
As many surely remember, the inciting incident that led to some contention between Parsons and the team that drafted him was a one-on-one meeting with team owner/president/general manager Jerry Jones. Jones thought that the result of the meeting was a handshake agreement on a contract extension that would’ve netted Parsons $150MM of guaranteed money. Parsons had a different view of the meeting, which he claimed was focused on leadership.
“Nah, obviously he wants to know where I’m at, what I think,” Parsons responded when asked last week if he viewed the meeting as a negotiation, per ESPN’s Todd Archer and Dan Graziano. “I’m thinking, ‘He wants to know where I’m at with the process,’ and that’s what I thought. Obviously, none of that matters now. I’m (in Green Bay).”
Following the meeting, Parsons came back to the table asking executive vice president — and son of the owner — Stephen Jones for more money. The younger Jones took the request to his father and, reportedly, convinced the general manager to increase the offer. Then — according to a report from Calvin Watkins of The Dallas Morning News that contradicts previous reports claiming that Parsons’ agent, David Mulugheta, never laid eyes on the handshake offer — team officials sent the increased proposal to Mulugheta, and the agent rejected it.
Watkins adds how, at the time, officials with the NFL Players Association explored the idea of discussing Jones’ tactics of cornering players without their agents with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Ultimately, no action was taken, considering the Collective Bargaining Agreement doesn’t forbid owners or general managers from negotiating directly with players, as long as a certified agent is present to finalize a deal with the team.
The reason the NFLPA was concerned was based on this not being the first instance of Jones and his son cornering players without their lawyers. The two defend the tactic, claiming that agents are impartial third parties that may not be around the player for very long, so their goals may not align with the long-term vision of the player like the owner’s might. They contend that the conversations go beyond the numbers, something that Parsons’ former teammate, quarterback Dak Prescott, can attest to with fond memories.
In reality, from the outside, it looks like the Joneses are attempting to utilize a familiarity and fondness with the player to earn more favorable teams for themselves with a potential hometown discount for an agreement. Also, by cutting out the agent, Jones removes a person knowledgeable on all aspects of a contract and its negotiation. As Parsons’ agent framed it, Parsons is an All-Pro defender in the NFL, and it’s unreasonable to expect him to also be an expert contract attorney.
The Joneses defend themselves, claiming that they will only proceed with the negotiations as long as the player is comfortable with it, but it requires them to ask. They say that those players are willing to discuss visions of their future with the team and what that looks like, but once numbers start getting thrown around the players will defer to their agent on those details. Still, negotiating any aspect of a contract without someone fully knowledgeable on the topic, is a bad look in the eyes of many players and agents.
The result of the incidental meeting was a trade request. First, Dallas called the Jets, checking in on the availability of defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. Green Bay and Miami were thought to be potential destinations, but the Cowboys looked also at Denver, whose head coach Sean Payton had worked with the team as a Cowboys assistant coach years ago. When Payton didn’t make an offer and a call from the Eagles’ was quickly nixed because of their divisional relation, the Packers emerged as the winner of the sweepstakes.
Parsons reportedly knew his days in Dallas were coming to an end when the team called on him to attend a treatment session on his ailing back. Parsons informed the team that he would need to reschedule, and the Cowboys threatened to fine him if he failed to attend. Two days later, he was headed to Green Bay.
At the start of it all, Mulugheta was seeking a $200MM deal for his star client. The Packers, after giving up defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first-round picks, continued to invest in Parsons with a four-year, $188MM extension. Both teams had early letdowns last week with the Cowboys getting blown out in Chicago and the Pack losing to the lowly Browns. While tons of focus will be centered on Parsons, both teams will be looking towards this week’s game as an opportunity to move on in multiple ways.
The five-year veteran fumbled twice in Sunday’s loss to the Steelers, which is likely to reduce his workload in the short-term, per ESPN’s Dan Graziano. That will “help the coaches make a point to the rest of the team about accountability,” an especially important precedent for Mike Vrabel to establish after his predecessor, Jerod Mayo, struggled to maintain the support of his players.
