PALM BEACH, Fla. — Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones does not believe a deal between the club and star pass rusher Micah Parsons is far off.
Jones said Parsons called him from Abu Dhabi to set up a meeting and within the past two weeks the owner and the Pro Bowler met for “five or six hours,” in the owner’s office at The Star in Frisco, Texas, to work out a long-term extension.
Most of the issues we are in agreement on. We discussed it all,” Jones said Tuesday during a break in the NFL’s annual meeting at The Breakers resort. “But we obviously don’t have an agreement relative to the new contract.”
Jones mentioned the length of the deal, guaranteed money and overall money is worked out.
So why is there no deal yet?
The finer details that are left to Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones and Parsons’ agent, David Mulugheta.
Those could take time; however, Jerry Jones said the discussions are much further along at this time than what the organization went through last offseason with wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, who missed the offseason program and most of training camp before signing a four-year, $136 million deal in August.
“I’m the one who has to sign the check and Micah is the one who has to agree to it,” Jones said. “That’s the straightest way to get there, is the one who writes the check and the one who is agreeing to it talking.”
The Joneses have had direct talks with players regarding contracts, such as those with Deion Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Jason Witten and Tony Romo. Agents get frustrated by the practice, but Jerry Jones does not believe it’s a big deal.
“Are you kidding me? That’s just not something that you should worry about,” Jerry Jones said. “You should be worrying about your ability to make it work and you should be worried about what the player does. Does he have good enough health? Does he have enough skill to do what you’re paying him the money for? The agent is not a factor here. And I don’t know his name. And so my point is that I’m not trying to demean him in any way but this isn’t about an agent.”