With Micah Parsons, the Cowboys foolishly drag their feet — again

Yahoo

3 days ago

The Cowboys have a bad habit of dragging their feet when it comes to paying key players. They've done it multiple times in recent years, and they're doing it again with linebacker Micah Parsons.
There's no upside in delaying the inevitable. Because, one, it's inevitable. And, two, it only gets more expensive over time.
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That's what has happened with Parsons. The market has mushroomed for pass rushers from $35 million per year in new-money average to $40 million. The Steelers will push the bar even higher, once linebacker T.J. Watt signs his next contract.
Whatever the target for Parsons (and he arguably deserves $50 million per year), waiting will not make the number any smaller. If/when Parsons has to hold out of training camp to get the contract the Cowboys should have given him a year ago (if they weren't dragging their feet with receiver CeeDee Lamb and quarterback Dak Prescott), Parsons will be less prepared than he could and should have been for the regular season.
But the Cowboys keep doing the same thing, over and over. While more and more fans are seeing through it, there's still the stray media moron or two who can't or won't understand it. (And, no, we can't tell whether they're stupid or simply angling for access — or maybe even a job with DallasCowboys.com.)
Why can't the Cowboys get back to the NFC Championship? There are many reasons for it. One is that management is cheap, shortsighted, and not nearly as smart as it thinks it is when the time comes to negotiate contracts with players who have earned them.
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There's nothing the fans can do about it. They're stuck with the decisions made by ownership, because they're stuck with the ownership that's currently in place.
Meanwhile, teams with owners who understand the value of moving quickly to reward core players (like the Eagles) will keep thriving, while the Cowboys and a few stray media apologists are left to wonder why the Cowboys are experiencing "this drought that people say we're in."