Mailbag: Have Parsons negotiations changed?

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With Micah Parsons now coming out and saying he wants to be the NFL's first $200 million defensive player, how is that going to change the contract negotiations? Can the Cowboys afford that? What once seemed like a relatively easy process just appears to be getting more and more complicated. – Ryan Sampson/Dallas, TX

Nick: Let's stop right there with the "relatively easy process" part. There was nothing easy about this deal, especially after getting both Dak and CeeDee done last year. I think it's always been something that is complicated. It does seem like things have changed in the negotiations over the last few weeks/months. My understanding is that the two sides have been relatively close to a deal on multiple occasions but just can't get over the finish line.

Where things stand at the moment doesn't seem relatively close, but then again, it can change rather quickly. Whatever the sticking point can be erased if one of the two sides decides to make it happen. As we've heard many times before, the Cowboys usually live by the "deadlines make deals" mantra. And in this case, there really isn't a deadline. Sure, the Cowboys could've probably gotten the deal done sooner and added more cap space, but who knows if that would've mattered if they're not doing to use it on other players right now.

The Cowboys also can use the franchise tag on Parsons next year if a deal isn't done so they're not too worried about losing the player right now. In my opinion, sure I'd like to see them get a deal done right now and start the clock sooner than later on signing a still-young player before the price continues to climb. Of course, the Cowboys have their reasons as well on pushing it back further and further and not getting a deal done until they absolutely need to.

Either way, selfishly, I'd love to move on without talking about the Micah contract, but in reality, it never goes away. Every time he doesn't get a sack in a game, his mega-contract will be mentioned just like it does when Dak throws an interception or even loses a game. It's the nature of the beast. But I just don't think the Cowboys are in as big a hurry here as the rest of the NFL world seems to be regarding this situation.

Patrik: It was never relatively easy, my friend. This is set to be a record-setting contract and not just by franchise standards, but by league standards, and that means there are a lot of machinations involved that make it super complex, e.g., length, guaranteed money, roster bonuses, injury protections, performance escalators, likely to be earned incentives versus not likely to be earned incentives, so forth and so on. Now that we've cleared that part up, I'd say the tone, at least publicly, has indeed changed; but I am also not at all surprised that it has. When Parsons was making the declarations of only needing "enough money to buy a lake house" and being uninterested in being a "$40 million per year" guy, it was prior to seeing Myles Garrett and Ja'Marr Chase get their contracts, and you'd better hope Trey Hendrickson's doesn't land before the Cowboys and Parsons come to terms.

As far as what the team can afford, the answer is yes, regardless of the scenario but the sooner the deal gets done, the better, because they can free up millions toward this year's salary cap (as savings) if they do it before the season begins and get themselves from under the very pricey fifth-year option. If it doesn't get done until next offseason, something that's difficult for me to fathom but not impossible, then there will be no reward financially and it will be at 100 percent cost to the team, but they'll account for it with rollover savings from 2025 that they didn't spend in the first place.

And then the salary cap will jump yet again, and roster attrition will happen, and Osa Odighizuwa's deal will likely be restructured, etc. etc.

You get the picture: affordability is not a static concept, but rather a fluid one. Besides, the $200 million will not be fully guaranteed anyway, but instead a promissory note, as is every NFL contract not once owned by Deshaun Watson or Kirk Cousins, so it's not really $200 million the Cowboys need to "afford" anyway.

Again, machinations.