Time is on Micah Parsons’s side, as long as he stays healthy

Cowboys defensive jack-of-all-trades Micah Parsons is willing to wait for his next contract. It’s not a bad strategy. With one big caveat.

Eventually, he’ll be the highest-paid non-quarterback in football. The current high-water mark is $35 million per year in new money, set six days ago by Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson. The Cowboys would be wise to offer Parsons $35.1 million (or more) in new money now. Because that number will only keep going up.

So, yes, time is on Micah’s side. Until the time comes for a new contract, he’ll be woefully underpaid. His pay for 2024 is $2.989 million. That’s a joke.

He should pull an Ezekiel Elliott and not show up from training camp until he gets what he deserves. The fact that he plays a position that carries a higher inherent injury risk makes it more important that he take a stand.

This isn’t about waiting your turn. This is about getting what’s yours. Parsons deserves the generational payday his talents and accomplishments have earned.

Quarterback Dak Prescott has gotten his. Receiver CeeDee Lamb is in a different category — he plays a less physically demanding position and he’ll be getting more than five times what Parsons will make this year.

Come 2025, Parsons’s salary moves to $21.324 million, under the fifth-year option. It should never get to that. It shouldn’t get to $2.989 million in 2024.

Parsons has every right to take a stand. He’s the best non-quarterback in the NFL. No matter what he does on the field in 2024, his eventual number won’t get much higher. If he gets injured or suddenly falls off in Mike Zimmer’s my-way-or-the-LBJ-Freeway defense, the annual average could get worse.