Sports Illustrated lays out options for Micah Parsons as potential training camp holdout looms

Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer laid out the options for Dallas Cowboys All-Pro Micah Parsons, who is skipping the first week of OTAs as he looks for a lucrative contract extension.

Jason Parkhurst-USA TODAY Sports

Dallas Cowboys OTA got underway on Tuesday, May 21, with a pair of the team's biggest stars absent from the offseason workouts.

All-Pros CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons skipped the opening day of the workouts as they aim to land lucrative contract extensions. Lamb's absence was expected, but Parsons' absence came as a bit of a surprise.

Dallas picked up Parsons' fifth-year option in May, designating him as a defensive end instead of a linebacker. Using that distinction, the Cowboys put his guaranteed money for 2025 at $21.324 million instead of the $24.007 million that would have come as a linebacker.

The Cowboys have also shown that they will not rush contract extensions, as they have shown with Dak Prescott, whose price significantly increased after Jared Goff's extension in Detroit.

RELATED: Micah Parsons training with ex-boxing champ; expected to join Cowboys for Week 2 of OTAs

While he has not been with the team, Parsons has been going through vigorous workouts at a local boxing gym, and reportedly is expected to join the team for the second week of OTAs which run from Wednesday, May 29 through Friday, May 31.

But will he actually show?

Dallas' recent trend of being patient with long-term deals for home-grown players has resulted in only three home-grown first-round picks to second contracts. Two players, offensive linemen Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick, received their extensions after three years. That's precisely where Parsons stands now.

The third player, Zack Martin, waited until after his fourth-year in the league.

Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer appears to think the smart move would be for Parsons to extend his holdout to take advantage of the current state of the edge rusher market.

So if you’re Parsons, what do you do? Do you stay patient? Or do you take the Elliott route, knowing that fines for missing mandatory team activities (such as minicamp and training camp) are forgivable because you’re still on a rookie deal, and that the team just took about $3 million in real money and negotiating leverage away from you? It seems like, based on all of this history, a pretty easy decision to make, particularly at a time when 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa just pushed the market for the position into the mid-$30-million-per-year range.

- Albert Breer, Sports Illustrated

Dallas cannot afford to make the same mistake with Parsons as they have with Prescott.

Parsons is a generational talent who can anchor the Cowboys' defense for years to come. He is a true game-changer week in and week out.

Last season, Parsons recorded 64 total tackles, 18 tackles for a loss, 33 QB hits, and a career-high 14 sacks. Repeating that level of production would be welcomed by new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer.

And Parsons would love to, but he needs to be paid accordingly.

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