FRISCO, Texas — The headline discussion entering the offseason will be how the Dallas Cowboys choose to handle the contract situation and discussions with Micah Parsons. The All-Pro pass rusher is next in line to negotiate what will likely be the largest contract in NFL history, or very near it, and he's speaking more and more candidly about his stance on the matter.
Though an unfounded narrative and speculation has cropped up in rumor mills regarding the Cowboys being open to potentially trading Parsons, the team has since and immediately debunked it as false and doubled down on a future that has the three-time Pro Bowler in it.
Whether the deal gets done before training camp is anyone's guess, but it won't dictate if Parsons is in Oxnard or not, as he revealed on Thursday.
"No, everyone's different," Parsons said. "I think I'll still be around. I don't know what the coaching is going to be like because, at some point, if I got to learn a new scheme. I would love to have [Mike] Zimmer back. I publicly, consistently say that what he's done for this team, through the injuries and everything, he's done a tremendous job for me. So I would love to have him back.
"But if they do change, or he just feels like he's ready just to go with his horses, I've got to learn a new scheme."
Zimmer has done a sensational job in turning things around for the defense in the second half of the season, in the face of rampant adversity on the injury front, but the Cowboys' defensive coordinator is operating under a one-year deal and, as a reminder, he is indeed the third defensive coordinator of the Mike McCarthy era.
But, for Parsons, being present and accounted for in training camp is also about his teammates in the locker room.
"I've got to be around the guys," he said. "There's going to be rookies, there's going to be free agents — guys that come here — you don't know who's going to be there, so there's a chemistry part and people know what you can do, but people also got to see it from a leader aspect. So I still gotta be there for that part."
It's a more evolved side of Parsons that's emerged over the version that chose to sidestep voluntary workouts (then again, "what do voluntary mean?") to this point, as the drive to become one of the definitive leaders of the team continues to dig itself deeper into the heart and mindset of the former first-round pick.
"I definitely think I need to be here in camp because, honestly, when so much of the defense is surrounded by your play and your presence, and others are getting lined up based off of you, I need to be here so that way I can get these guys accordingly," said Parsons. "We can rush together, build that chemistry.
"So I think it's of extreme importance that I'm back at OTAs, minicamp [etc.]."
That means, as of now, you can count Parsons in for training camp regardless of his contract status going into late July, and as far as the deal itself, it's a foregone conclusion it'll have a portion of the kitchen sink built into it.
Parsons isn't seeking the entire sink, tub and tiles, though.
"It would just be nice to be surrounded by good players, you know what I mean?" he said. "Players that are going to help you win championships. To me, having $40 million and being chipped every play and slid two with three, four people — I don't think that sounds too fun. So, to me, it's about people that can keep making a difference and, obviously, we're going to get Sam [Williams] back; and we're going get some of [others] back.
"We'll see how it breaks down, but I want to keep as many guys as possible, however they're going to make the cap work."
It's not a deal that can be worked out overnight, given its size and structure (e.g., signing bonus, trade/no-trade clause, cash flow, escalators, etc.), but Parsons sounds true to the words he's been saying for a very long time now:
He wants to be a Cowboy forever.
