Micah Parsons advocates for Tony Pollard ahead of free agency

More than a dozen of Micah Parsons‘ teammates are heading toward free agency next month. Among them is starting running back Tony Pollard. The team franchise tagged Pollard for his fifth season and now, Jerry Jones has a hard decision to make. The Cowboys could sign the former fourth-round draft pick to a new deal, franchise tag him again for a 20% increase in his price tag, or let him walk to find a new team.

If it were up to Parsons, he’d keep Pollard for at least another season. In 2023, the former Memphis standout was coming off of a high-ankle sprain, which required surgery, and a fibula fracture. He reached 1,000 rushing yards for the second consecutive season, but only topped 100 yards in a single game once during the regular season. He also had just six touchdowns, down from 12 last season.

“I would say toward the end of the season Tony Pollard was catching his rhythm again,” Parsons said on The Stephen A. Smith Show this week amid the NBA All-Star festivities. “I do think he’s an every-down guy. You’ve got to think, he broke his fibula, tibia, something, that’s a catastrophic injury. You’re talking about a guy that’s really been off from that January, came back Week 1 but he didn’t really do a lot.

“It takes a while to get back into football. He didn’t do OTAs… didn’t do minicamp. He kind of did camp a little bit like working through it, getting back into it. You saw him increase, like he even said, ‘I’m just now getting back to myself.’ I would give Tony Pollard another shot.”

Dallas Cowboys must decide on RB Tony Pollard’s future

Pollard’s yards-per-carry average dropped from 5.2 in 2022 to 4.0 this season, and his price tag is about to get more expensive. As a team this year, the Cowboys ranked 14th in the NFL in total rushing yards, led by Pollard and Rico Dowdle. Dowdle is a restricted free agent next month.

This season, Pollard joined just five other Cowboys running backs in hitting 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons. That group includes Calvin Hill, Tony Dorsett, Emmitt Smith, DeMarco Murray and Ezekiel Elliott.

The young running back has played all five of his seasons with Dallas so far. He’s made $14 million in career earnings so far, including $10 million from the franchise tag deal this season.