Troy Aikman’s Strong Roster Warning to Jerry Jones as Micah Parsons Rejects $40M Contract With Cowboys

As the postseason picture comes into focus, the Dallas Cowboys are still searching for their game plan, but all they’re finding is confusion. They’re already sitting at 6-8, and trust me, there’s no shortage of reasons why. From Dak Prescott’s injury to a shaky defense and some real roster issues, it’s like a never-ending cycle of problems. But amidst this maelstrom, Micah Parsons’s words about a new contract were music to Jerry Jones’ ears.

Two weeks ago, Parsons made it clear that he doesn’t want to be the highest-paid defender in the league. With the Cowboys picking up his fifth-year option, Parsons is under contract in 2025 and is set to make $21.4 million next year. With a major contract extension likely, Parsons allayed Jones’ fears of a massive payday, saying, “I don’t need ($40 million),” instead “It would just be nice to be surrounded by good players.” This means he has put the onus on Jones to build a team capable of challenging deep into the postseason.

Parsons is more interested in seeing a team that is more than a sum of its parts and a roster that is not uneven in its quality. Troy Aikman was also keen to remind Jones of the challenge that lies ahead of him to build a competitive team.

Speaking on Sportsradio 96.7 FM/1310 The Ticket (KTCK-AM). on Thursday, Aikman warned the Cowboys of future issues if the problems of this season aren’t addressed. “You’ve already paid Dak, CeeDee’s, been paid. You only have so much. Mike is coming up for a contract as well. Those become hard decisions and hard negotiations. However, those are resolved is ultimately going to define kind of what team this is going to look like.”

“You can’t just have three great players, and 50 less than average players. I’m not saying that the others are less than average, but the decisions affect them and the strength overall of the roster. That’s the real challenge,” Aikman pointed out.

Let’s rewind before the season went off the rails. The Dallas team handed out big money to receiver CeeDee Lamb signing him to a  $136m, four-year contract, and secured QB Dak Prescott through the 2028 season with a $240 million four-year contract. While this signaled the ambition to keep the best players on the team, a lack of quality in depth became clear once the season got underway.

This season was an inactive one in terms of key additions by the Cowboys. Instead of making any note-worthy signings, the team relied on rookies and post-draft bargains which didn’t help. This left them with deficiencies at both ends of the field.

Prescott is out for the season after he suffered a torn hamstring injury in the Week 9 loss to the Atlanta Falcons and CeeDee Lamb also suffered a shoulder sprain in that game and has had limited practices since. In fact, the Cowboys listed 14 players on their injury report on Wednesday. Hence, building a roster that can cope with these challenges will be key for any success America’s Team desires next season.

However, with their cap situation after the Lamb and Prescott deals, the Cowboys may be limited in what they can do. Despite Parsons insisting he doesn’t need a massive deal, his contract extension would likely take another large portion of the Cowboys’ salary cap. Still, after his admission, there is little reason for Jones and the Dallas front office not to pursue free agency or other deals more aggressively.

Top Comment by JohnIL

Jerry has had decades to put together a real dominate contender team and he brags every year how great the...more

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“To me, having $40 million and being chipped every play and slid into three, four people, that doesn’t sound too fun to me. So, to me, it’s about keeping people that can make a difference and obviously we’re going to get Sam [Williams] back, some players back. We’ll see how it breaks down, but I want to keep as many guys as possible. They will make the cap work, I don’t know,” Parsons said.

Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones also addressed the situation and whether the franchise should sign more “middle-class” players to extensions instead of those considered high-end.

Stephen Jones outlines what the Cowboys can do next season to build the roster

“I think that’s a balancing act that you always got to look at,” Jones said. “Especially when your good, good players get hurt and are not on the field. It totally magnifies the issue if you lose guys like Dak, and Diggs misses games, Zack Martin misses games and it’s going to magnify something like that.”

With Prescott and Lamb’s big contracts, the Cowboys had a way to defend itself from spending big on signings citing the cost of those two deals. However, now that Parsons has expressed a desire to only have a contract which will help him buy lake house and allow the team to become strong and add quality to their depth charts, it remains to be seen what the Cowboys will do.

Parsons’ stance is a refreshing change of pace in the league, especially for the Cowboys. Let’s see if the Dallas team can finally crack the code before their window slams shut.