Dallas Cowboys pick up Micah Parsons' fifth-year option

The Dallas Cowboys are picking up the fifth-year option on the rookie contract of Micah Parsons, according to Jon Machota of The Athletic. He will earn $21.3 million in 2025.

Parsons is coming off a 2023 season where he arguably had the best season of his career. The 24-year-old linebacker registered 64 tackles, 18 tackles for loss and 14 sacks. His production in 2023 led to him being selected to the Pro Bowl and the All-Pro Second Team.

The Cowboys selected Parsons at No. 12 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft. He was named Defensive Rookie of the Year that season after posting 64 tackles, 20 tackles for loss and 13 sacks. In 2022, Parsons had another strong season, tallying 65 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks. He was named to the All-Pro First team in 2021 and 2022.

Is a big contract coming for Micah Parsons?

With the Cowboys picking up the fifth-year option on Parsons, it’s likely the team will sign him to a long-term contract soon. This week, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones spoke to reporters about the future of Parsons, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and quarterback Dak Prescott.

“We’d like to see more leaves fall,” he said, per the Cowboys’ official website. “We’d like to see more action. It’s called option quarterback. I’ve spent my life [playing] option quarterback. I want to see some more cards played.”

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones also weighed in on the Cowboys’ three top players. “When you’re talking about big contracts like Dak, CeeDee and Micah, those things don’t happen overnight,” he explained. “Those things take time. There’s timing based on what other teams are doing at their position.

“There’s a lot of moving parts. Certainly, you wanna get it right. … When you’re paying the type of money we ultimately will have to, to keep them, you wanna make sure you get it right.”

While Parsons is a superstar for the Cowboys, he’s reportedly rubbing some people the wrong way. According to Shan Shariff of 105.3 The Fan, Parson’s behavior has “worn thin” on some people in the Cowboys organization.

“I don’t know how much is true and how much it actually hurts (his reputation). I don’t know whether this is the behavior of a typical superstar. I don’t how damaging it is. But all I do know is this – I’ve heard from way too many people that if Micah Parsons was out of there, there would be a decent amount of people inside the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco smiling or breathing a sigh of relief.”

On3’s Wade Peery contributed to this report.