OXNARD, Calif. — It was a bizarre scene at the Dallas Cowboys’ training camp facility Friday shortly before noon. Although the team had the day off, wide receiver George Pickens and cornerback Kaiir Elam were made available to reporters. Shortly after Pickens left the podium and Elam’s session was getting underway, Micah Parsons fired off one of the most famous social media posts in Cowboys history.
Star players ask to be traded all the time. It’s going on right now with the Washington Commanders and WR Terry McLaurin. It happened back in February with the Cleveland Browns and DE Myles Garrett. But it’s unheard of when it comes to the Cowboys. Contract situations have led to plenty of drama recently with Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Zack Martin, Ezekiel Elliott and Dez Bryant. None of them got to the point where they requested to be moved. But Parsons did just that Friday.
“I did everything I could to show that I wanted to be a Cowboy and wear the star on my helmet,” he shared in a lengthy statement. “Unfortunately, I no longer want to be here.”
Parsons then explained the little movement in his contract negotiations and said he personally made a trade request with Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones.
There’s frustration on both sides. Dallas felt it had a deal agreed to with Parsons back in May. But Parsons wanted it to be finalized by having Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones talk with his agent David Mulugheta. The two sides have still yet to speak.
It’ll be very interesting to hear how Jerry Jones responds. Parsons is under contract through this season and can be franchise tagged the next two. There’s a good chance Jones will voice that the next time he speaks to reporters. And that probably won’t calm the waters.
Where do things go from here?
It would be one thing if Parsons was back in Texas or in Cabo San Lucas like Elliott, Lamb and Martin during their holdouts. But Parsons is in California with the team. He has attended every practice. Will he continue that? He has said he wants to be around his teammates, showing leadership. But his body language during recent practices has shown a player who has had enough of watching off to the side.
Micah Parsons watching d-line drills pic.twitter.com/d9dY951Mll
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) July 30, 2025
Things have likely gotten to a point where Parsons wants to be back on the field with a new deal and believes this request is his best piece of leverage.
Parsons’ closest friend on the team, cornerback Trevon Diggs, has been having his own issues with the front office. He was docked $500,000 of his salary for not doing enough of his offseason rehab from a surgically-repaired knee at the team’s headquarters.
Diggs changed his X profile picture to a photo of Parsons. Parsons responded to a post on X on Thursday night of him and Diggs with a gif saying: “One last time.” The gif appeared to be in reference to it potentially being the final season in Dallas for both players.
Other Cowboy players also showed their support for Parsons on social media. Star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb posted the following on X: “Never fails dawg. Just pay the man, what you owe em. No need for the extra curricular.”
All of this points to Brian Schottenheimer facing his toughest task to date in his first season as head coach. He will have to walk a fine line of supporting the star pass rusher but also not taking shots at his employer. Schottenheimer has done a good job of limiting potential distractions early in camp, but this has taken things to a new level.
It still seems highly unlikely that the Cowboys would seriously consider trading Parsons. While this has started getting uglier than the others, things usually change quickly when the pen hits the paper on a new contract.
Following a preseason game in 2019 when backup running back Tony Pollard ran well, Jerry Jones joked: “Zeke who?” during the former Pro Bowl running back’s contract holdout. While that bothered Elliott, the two laughed about it later after signing his new contract. They then posed with a T-shirt that said, “Zeke who?”
About an hour after Parsons’ post on Friday, Stephen Jones was getting in his usual steps around the Cowboys’ practice fields. It was a typical, beautiful sunny southern California day around 73 degrees. A reporter said: “Never a dull day.” A smiling Jones didn’t seem bothered by the current events, responding, “Why have a dull day when you can have a pretty day, too.”
It’s tough to disagree with the weather, but the situation with Parsons has officially become ugly.
(Photo: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
