Emmitt Smith’s contract holdout was more than three decades ago, but it’s still memorable. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones hasn’t forgotten about it.
In 1993 Smith was coming off his second straight rushing title and held out, wanting a new contract. The holdout lasted two games into the regular season, and the Cowboys started 0-2. The two sides then came to an agreement on a deal that made Smith the highest paid running back in NFL history (four years and $13.6 million … contracts have gone up a bit). Smith ended up winning NFL MVP and the Cowboys won a Super Bowl.
Jones remembers that holdout and others in which the Cowboys waited it out, which indicates he isn’t going to panic about the Micah Parsons situation.
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“It took a long time with Emmitt Smith,” Jones told Jarrett Bell of USA Today. “Same thing with (Zack) Martin two years ago. (CeeDee) Lamb last year.”
It’s a theme for the Cowboys. Parsons requested a trade, but Jones probably isn’t going to speed up negotiations that much.
Jerry Jones explains Micah Parsons situation
The tone of the pace of negotiations was summed up by a Jones quote over the weekend, after the trade request, in which he advised Cowboys fans: “Don’t lose any sleep over it.”
Jones is a shrewd businessman and it seems that while the rest of the NFL world and especially Dallas is worried about what happens next with Parsons, the Cowboys owner seems like he’s actually enjoying the standoff.
“This is a negotiation,” Jones said, via the team’s site. “Does it blow me up? Somebody to say, ‘Look, trade me.’ That’s just not a flare sign for me at all in any way.”
Jones has reasons to not worry too much. Parsons can request a trade all he wants but that doesn’t force the Cowboys into dealing him. Parsons has a year left on his rookie deal and Jones referenced in his interview with USA Today the two franchise tags the team used on DeMarcus Lawrence and Dak Prescott before signing them to long-term deals.
Theoretically, if the Cowboys wanted to dig in, they could use back-to-back franchise tags on Parsons, too, and drag it out until after the 2027 season.
Parsons’ leverage is that the Cowboys would be at a significant competitive disadvantage if he sat out games during his holdout. Jones doesn’t seem too worried though.
Jones preaches patience again
Generally, the Cowboys have gotten deals done. They did with Smith; they got a long-term deal with Dez Bryant done right at the deadline for extending franchise-tagged players; Prescott and Lawrence got long-term deals after franchise tags; Martin and Lamb got their contracts too after some August drama.
People can criticize Jones for waiting, and often paying more, but it’s not changing. Jones has argued that doing a deal early has its drawbacks too, and he keeps doubling down on that approach.
“Let me say this just right,” Jones told USA Today. “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t do it that way. I should be trying to get the most value for the Cowboys. I’ve seen players I wish we had renegotiated their contracts earlier and I’ve had several that I was sorry I renegotiated their contract earlier. The idea that if you wait there’s more money (spent) forgets that in between that wait, you get to evaluate and you frankly get to see if you’re dealing with the same physical elements of it.”
So everyone is in a holding pattern. There’s more than a month before the Cowboys’ first game. The Cowboys don’t seem inclined to entertain trade calls for Parsons. Parsons will continue to hold out as he looks for a deal that will likely make him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.
And Jones will keep waiting. He has made that clear.
