Cowboys star Micah Parsons at war with Dallas owner Jerry Jones over agent’s role in contract talks
Cowboys star Micah Parsons is in a war of words with Jerry Jones after the Dallas owner took several shots at the pass rusher’s agent.
Parsons, who is represented by agent David Mulugheta, is seeking a historic long-term deal after playing out his rookie contract.
He is set to earn just over $24million this year after Dallas exercised their fifth-year option on him, per Spotrac, though the Dallas Morning News reported that Parsons is seeking a $200million extension beyond that.
Asked about the ongoing contract talks on Tuesday, Jones told reporters he didn’t know Mulugheta’s name and that he was ‘not a factor’ in negotiations.
Parsons, a four-time Pro Bowler with 52.5 career sacks, caught wind of those comments and stood up for his agent.
‘David is the best and I will not be doing any deal without [him] involved!,’ he wrote on X. ‘Like anyone with good sense I hired experts for a reason. There is no one I trust more when it comes to negotiating contracts than David! There will be no backdoors in this contract negotiation.’
Jerry Jones told reporters that he didn’t know the name of Micah Parsons’ agent
Parsons is reportedly seeking to become the highest-paid non-QB in NFL history
Parsons’ post came in response to longtime Cowboys reporter Clarence Hill Jr, who had relayed Jones’ remarks and called Mulugheta one of the ‘best and most respected agents in the NFL.’
ESPN’s Dan Orvlovsky also wrote in the replies: ‘this won’t go well for Jerry lol. Mulugheta is as good as it gets in that business lol.’
Hill reported for All City DLLS that the Cowboys had in fact offered Parsons a deal (without Mulugheta involved) which would make the player the highest-paid non-QB of all time. The Browns’ Myles Garrett currently holds that record with his recently-signed four-year, $160million deal.
Mulugheta, who works for agency Athletes First, has a number of big-name NFL clients such as Jordan Love, C.J. Stroud and Jalen Ramsey.
However, Jones was rather dismissive when discussing him from the NFL owner’s meetings.
‘That’s [an agent] just not something you should worry about. You should be worrying about your ability to make it work, and you should be worried about what the player does,’ he began. ‘Does he have good enough health? Does he have good enough skill to do what you’re paying him the money for.
‘The agent is not a factor here, or something to worry about. And I don’t know his name. And so my point is, I’m not trying to demean him in any way, but this isn’t about an agent. The agent doesn’t have one thing to do with what we’re doing when we get on the football field against a team. Micah does. To the degree I’m involved, I do. The people that have something to do with what we do going forward relative to our fans and football are me and the player, not the agent.
‘I’m not demeaning the agent. I’m just saying, anybody can do this, and that’s talk directly to a player. Frankly, most people that negotiate with me will tell you that it was better off than negotiating with anybody else, Stephen [Jones], or anybody involved. This is not uncommon. I negotiated directly with – as far back as Emmitt [Smith], Deion [Sanders]. We, by the way, maintained relationships that have lasted well past their playing days.’
Parsons’ rookie deal was worth $17million over four years, after he was drafted 12th overall in 2021.
However, he has gone on to establish himself as one of the game’s best pass-rushers, notching at least 12 sacks in each of his seasons, and now he wants a long-term payday that reflects that.
