The Cowboys are exercising the fifth-year option on Micah Parsons’ contract. That isn’t news given it was expected.
However, the Cowboys are placing the option on Parsons as a defensive end, not a linebacker, Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News reports.
As a linebacker, Parsons would earn $24 million in 2025 in the final year of his contract, but the defensive end salary is $21.32 million, per Gehlken.
Parsons is listed as a linebacker, but he has played more defensive end the past two seasons. He played 87.8 percent of his snaps at defensive end last season, according to Pro Football Focus.
The position designation could prompt a grievance from agent David Mulugheta.
Parsons, though, likely never takes the field on the fifth-year option.
The sides hope to complete a long-term extension in the next year that will make Parsons the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history. If that doesn’t happen, Parsons likely sits out until it does.
That’s the tactic another Mulugheta client took in 2022 as Chargers safety Derwin James, who was on the fifth-year option, held out of training camp for three weeks before signing an extension.
Parsons has earned three Pro Bowls and two All-Pro honors in three years, finishing second in defensive player of the year voting twice and third once. He has 40.5 career sacks and 89 quarterback hits.
