FRISCO, Texas – After a three-game losing streak that brought the Dallas Cowboys’ record to 3-5 through the first nine weeks of the 2024 season, there was many reasons to sell of the players who could at the NFL trade deadline on Tuesday.
Instead, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones was a buyer, trading a 2025 fourth-round pick to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for 2023 second-round wide receiver Jonathan Mingo and a 2025 seventh-round pick. Jones explained all his rationale to Micah Parsons, injured running back and three-time All-Pro why he chose to make such a move with the quarterback Dak Prescott deals with hamstring injurybetween issues.
The inspiration was partially fueled by a phone call Jones had with Football Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach, who reminded Jones of the 1971 season. That’s when Dallas was rotating between Staubach and Craig Morton at quarterback. the team’s starting outfield player, but after a 4-3 start, the Cowboys installed Staubach as the full-time starter. They then won their last 10 games in a row en route to a Super Bowl VI title.
“I talked to Jerry. He came and watched me practice last weekend,” Parsons said Wednesday. “He was like, ‘I’ve been here before.’ Staubach called me and said, ‘We were 3-5 and we still made a run.’ [in 1971 after going 4-3].’ That gives Jerry his old school beliefs. When your owner believes in it, and really believes that these are the right guys, that gives confidence to the guys in the locker room because your owner believes in you. Even though you haven’t had much success and things aren’t going your way, he still believes that you can do great things. And honestly you should. This has proven to be a winning team, a 12-5 team over the last three years. We obviously have more losses right now than ever. But the high hopes placed on the players are still there. “We just have to stop punishing ourselves, and that’s penalties and things like that.”
There were some in the football world who suggested a nuclear option: trading Parsons for a host of picks in a Khalil Mack type transportBut Parsons himself hopes to remain a Cowboy for a long time because of his connection with Jones.
“Honestly, I’m flattered. But at the same time, there’s always a trade level,” Parsons said of hearing others talk about his potential trade value. “Jerry and I love each other. I always thank Jerry for giving me the opportunity [to play in the NFL]. He has done many wonderful things to change my life on and off the field. More than people will ever know. He trusts me. I mean, Jerry picked me up on the side of the road and said, ‘Come watch the Super Bowl with me.’ That just lets you know what kind of owner Jerry is. He left early and gave us [Parsons and friends] the suite and [said]’Here, you and your friends enjoy.’ Honestly it flatters me. “I think if Jerry ever had a problem with me, he would call me into his office and we would sit down before anyone on national television could.”
They ended up sharing a suite at Super Bowl LVIII last February after each meeting at the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas, not on the side of the road, further cementing Parsons’ ties to the Dallas Cowboys and increasing the likelihood of to sign an extension that will reset the market in the 2025 offseason.
“On the side of the road. I was outside the Wynn Hotel, and Jerry comes out of the Wynn Hotel and says, ‘Micah! Where are you going? … Are you going to the game?'” Parsons said. “I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Do you want to come?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ He brought me to the game. I was like, ‘Cool.’ We got a chance to talk for a few hours. That shows how generous and caring he is. the players, how he sees the team and where he wants to go. “The fact that he did that with me shows that our relationship is growing and that he trusts me.”
Some would say that being so close to his players could make it more difficult for Jones to make smart but difficult personnel decisions at key moments in terms of when to cut certain players, etc. However, Parsons, of course, argues that Jones’ passion and enthusiasm, which is regularly displayed in the post-game media and on the radio, is an advantage, not a disadvantage. Some Cowboys fans may disagree with the 2023 NFL quarterback rushing leader on that issue, but Jones’ hands-on involvement in Dallas football operations is never going to change.
“I think it’s a good thing,” Parsons said. “Because, honestly, a lot of owners don’t care. Jerry cares about how comfortable we are, he cares about these facilities. When you walk into the building you say, ‘It’s a privilege, not a right, to wear the star.’ I think when you have an owner like that, he really cares and he really wants to be involved in this process, rather than saying, ‘This is a way to make money, to me it’s about money.’ And when someone’s heart is in it. In that, think about family, family doesn’t always do the right things or make the right decisions, but you still love them because they really care about the meaning of what they’re doing.”
