$205 Million: Proposing a record-setting Micah Parsons contract extension for Cowboys

Whether in Dallas or elsewhere, Micah Parsons is more than likely going to earn the biggest contract for a non-quarterback in NFL. With one year remaining on his rookie deal, the fifth-year option, and others at his position signing new deals in 2025, it seems the time is ripe to dive into what that might look like were it to happen with the Cowboys.

The Dallas Cowboys are operating a little differently in the 2025 offseason. After starving out head coach Mike McCarthy, the club has returned to their normal ways of attacking the early offseason. They signed their own, bringing back DT Osa Odighizuwa at a relative discount, and then brought in some relatively low-cost veterans to fill out several glaring holes in the roster. They did this through both free agency and via trading late-round picks, neither of which were part of their 2024 arsenal.

However one thing has yet to be proven different, and that's how they approach the biggest stars on their roster. In 2024, Dallas went without seeing WR CeeDee Lamb until training camp, as he was in a contract dispute entering the fifth-year option of his rookie contract. They waited until the first week of the season drew near to extend Dak Prescott when he had just one year remaining on his deal. Prescott inked the largest deal in NFL history (average salary) and Lamb the second-largest ever for a wideout.

In other words, Dallas gained nothing but accrued interest in waiting, and probably paid that and more in letting the market set before agreeing to the player's demands. It is already feeling like deja vu all over again with edge rusher Micah Parsons and his pending extension.

Like Lamb last season, Parsons is on the books for the fifth-year option, taking up a ton of cap space with the one-year amount. Parsons currently is eating up $24 million worth of space on the Cowboys' cap. They aren't up against the ceiling this year, though, so the team isn't using that as cover for why they aren't spending.

But the fact remains, others at the position have locked in new deals, making Parsons, a four-time Pro Bowler, three-time All-Pro and annual Defensive Player of the Year candidate more expensive by the week.

Earlier, Cowboys Wire looked at what a trade of Parsons could bring in. But as admitted there, the Cowboys are likely extending him, not trading him. So what would an extension look like?

KD Drummond's Micah Parsons Extension Projection KD Drummond

First, the basics of an NFL contract. Base salaries are generally paid during the Bonuses (Signing, Option, Restructure) are paid in a given year, but their cap hits are spread evenly across the deal, up to five seasons. So this $27.5 million signing bonus hits each season between 2025 and 2029 for $5.5 million per year.

The cash column is how much in base salary a player makes, plus any bonus money given in that year. The structure gives Parsons a big payment in March of most seasons, and then weekly salaries during the season.

This projected extension, five new years for $205 million, makes Parsons the highest-paid non-QB in NFL history and the first to surpass $200 million cumulative earnings in one deal. It is on top of the $24.007 million he is due on this year's fifth-year option. The $41 million of new money, per-year average trumps what Myles Garrett received in his four-year extension signed with the Cleveland Browns earlier this offseason.

Per Over the Cap, Garrett's extension had $123.596 million guaranteed of which $88.8 million is fully guaranteed at signing including a $21.54 million signing bonus. Parsons clears all of those with this contract.

The way this particular deal is structured, it proves $90 million to Parsons through three years no matter what. Should Parsons suffer a career-ending injury in 2025 or 2026, he will also see an additional $34.5 million paid across 2027 and 2028. Here are the major details of the guaranteed portion of the deal.

$90 million fully guaranteed
- $27.5 million signing bonus
- 2025 Base Salary: $9 million
- 2026 Base Salary: $9 million
- 2026 Option Bonus: $25 million (paid on 3rd day of league year)
- $19.5 million of 2027 Base Salary
$124.5 total guarantees
- All moneys above, plus:
- $16.5 million of remaining 2027 salary is guaranteed for injury (fully g'teed on 3rd day of 2027)
- $18 million Base Salary is guaranteed for injury

With this deal, Parsons essentially makes $500,000 per week (18 weeks) across the first two years of the deal. Those are augmented by the signing bonus and the first option bonus. He'll make $2 million per week in Year 3, when there is no up-front bonus. He has Option Bonuses in 2028 and 2029 for big payments in March, and then makes $1 million per week those seasons.

The timing of those bonuses is structured that if the Cowboys want to use escape clauses, Parsons will hit the market when teams still have cap space to spend.

The first exit window, Parsons can be released in the first three days of the 2028 league year, and Dallas would save $6.5 million in cap space.

The second exit window, Parsons can be released in the first three days of the 2029 league year, and Dallas would save $4 million in space. He can be released before the final year of his deal, 2030, and the team would save $3.507 million of space.

The proposed deal also includes a Zack Martin Clause, where in the case that Parsons wants to call it an early career and walk away after his deal ends, the Cowboys can spread the $28 million in dead money between 2031 ($11 million) and 2032 ($17 million).

This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys contract projection: $205 million extension for Micah Parsons

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$205 Million: Proposing a record-setting Micah Parsons contract extension for Cowboys

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