Stephen Jones Makes Surprising Comments on Micah Parsons Trade Rumors

The 2024 season has been one to forget for the Dallas Cowboys as they went from potential Super Bowl contender to securing a possible top-15 pick in the NFL draft. 

The injury bug hit the Cowboys hard on both sides, which is what the team didn’t have in mind after giving star QB Dak Prescott and WR CeeDee Lamb blockbuster extensions this summer. But that’s how things play out in the NFL as things can change year by year. 

The Cowboys will likely start game planning for the offseason now as they have a few critical decisions, including a new deal for Micah Parsons. The star pass rusher had his $24 million fifth-year option exercised in April, which means Parsons won’t hit free agency until 2026.

However, Dallas likely doesn’t want to wait until the end of the 2025 season to get a deal done with the former first-round pick. The objective should be to get it done after this season wraps up. 

Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones understands this and told NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport you don’t let guys like Parsons leave your team.

""Obviously we're totally all in on Dak and CeeDee," Jones said, "but after that, then you still shape things, including Micah. But Micah's a great player. You don't do well in this league letting guys like Micah, usually, leave the house.""

Ahead of Dallas’ Week 10 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, Parsons took the time to address his name floating around in hypothetical trade rumors. The star defender didn’t give much energy to those rumors but said he and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones love each other.

At that time of the season, the Cowboys were in the middle of a losing streak, and the thought was they could get a substantial amount of value back for Parsons. Dallas didn’t move the star pass rusher as he’s one of the key pillars of this franchise.

Along those same lines, Rapoport asked the Cowboys EVP if Parsons could be traded and Stephen Jones did not mince his words. 

“We love Micah,” Jones said. "I can't imagine there's a scenario where he's not wearing a star on his helmet.”

Even though this season has been a disaster, the Cowboys’ front office understands for them to compete, Parsons has to wear the star. Since Dallas drafted Parsons with the 12th overall pick in 2021, the former Penn State standout has evolved into one of the more feared pass rushers in the league.

In 59 career games with the Cowboys, Parsons has recorded 106 quarterback hits, 57 tackles for loss, and 47 sacks. With that type of production to start a career, you don’t trade a player of Parsons’ caliber.

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