Micah Parsons visits Great Wall of China amid overseas trip with CJ Stroud

Dallas Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons isn’t in DFW getting ready with the team at voluntary workouts this week, but he is checking some things off the bucket list. After hosting a youth football camp with Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud in Beijing earlier this week, Parsons posted photos from the Great Wall of China.

On Instagram, the young NFL star captioned his photos: “爱与和平” or “Peace and Love.” After traveling halfway around the world, Parsons is getting in a healthy dose of international culture before locking in for the 2024 season.

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The Houston Texans star quarterback and Dallas Cowboys edge rusher held a camp for youth football players in Beijing on Wednesday morning. The camp was for youth football players aged 8-18 and came with instruction from the star NFL players themselves, as well as other coaches.

Stroud and Parsons met the youth players at the Dongfeng International Sports Park in Chaoyang, Beijing. The attendees received a group photo with the duo, along with branded gear and other take-home items from the event’s sponsors.

Stroud and Parsons have an opportunity to battle it out in person this season when the Houston Texans visit the Dallas Cowboys. The NFL hasn’t announced a date for that game yet. It’s a highly anticipated matchup already with the Diggs brothers set to go head-to-head.

Parsons skipping Cowboys workouts

Micah Parsons skipping the team’s voluntary workouts is par for the course at this time of year for the former Penn State star. He didn’t participate in the team’s voluntary program last year, choosing instead to workout privately.

Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Parsons and right guard Zack Martin are all hoping for big extensions to stay with the team long-term and the holdout from voluntary workouts could be part of the push for those deals.

For now, the Cowboys’ activities are voluntary. That changes when the mandatory minicamp comes around in early June. The team’s spring workouts are exclusively for strength and conditioning, as outlined by the CBA.

Last month at league annual meetings in Orlando, Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones opened up about the potential for a holdout this offseason. He cited former first-rounder Ezekiel Elliott as an example.

“Everybody goes about it a different way,” Jones said. “We’ve had guys who have been around. [Ezekiel Elliott] was never around when he was wanting a contract. So, we’ve dealt with both. We respect Zeke, but you prefer that they’re around when they’re under contract. It’s part of the business.

“You don’t love it, but it’s part of the business.”