Dallas Cowboys talisman Micah Parsons has reiterated that he has no desire to the leave the only NFL team he has known — but admits that the situation might be out of his hands.

The pass rusher is, along with Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson, the next amongst his peers in line for a contract extension, but the Cowboys front office appears to be in no hurry to get one done. It is a familiar story for Cowboys fans, who have had to watch Jerry and Stephen Jones take brinkmanship to the next level with a series of deals getting done on the eve of the season, with heavily-escalated cost the usual byproduct.

Parsons has been in line for an extension for the past year, although he enters the last year of his rookie deal in 2025, but, even as he took to the practice field in Oxnard this week, he and the Joneses appear to be no closer to a resolution that appears to be straightforward for a game-changer who doesn’t want to take his game anywhere else.

“There’s not really much movement,” Parsons told the assembled media throng at the end of practice. “I want to be here, I’ve always stated I want to be here but, at the end of the day, they sign the cheques like always, [so] let’s see if they want me to be here.

“I’ve been pretty consistent. I’ll go on about my business and, as long as I’m here and under contract, I’m gonna do what I have to do to perform at the highest level. But, if this is the end, this is the end. “

Despite speculation that he may hold out of camp in search of a deal, Parsons made his own way to California and joined his team-mates on the field, even if the majority of his day was spent off to the side as he dealt with a tight back.

“I’m doing this for myself and my team-mates,” he stressed. “This isn’t for Jerry, this isn’t for Stephen, this is for guys like Tre[von Diggs], this is to help guys like Donovan [Ezeiruaku], Sam [Williams], guys who I know I can get better just by being here and being there for them.”

Jerry Jones, as general manager, confirmed to the media that he’s in no hurry to get a deal done, but repeated that he was dealing with one of the savvier players he’s had on his team when it comes to talking money.

“When you go around the league and you see these other teams taking care of their best guys, I see T.J. [Watt] get taken care of, Maxx [Crosby] get taken care of, Myles [Garrett] get taken care of, [and] you wish you had that same type of energy. I think they’ve got their own timeline, so I don’t think that helps…

“I’ve been pretty successful over these last couple [of] years, so I’m just going to let God do His work. I feel like I’m the best at what I do — you can argue with whoever but stats [and] numbers don’t lie. The consistency is there and the availability is there. This is genuinely what I love to do and, if anyone questions that, they probably have never been around me.”

New head coach Brian Schottenheimer was grateful to see his defensive lynchpin show up for camp, claiming that ‘the biggest thing for me right now is that he’s here, while CB Trevon Diggs underlined that he, like the rest of the team, want to see Parsons on the field with a star on his helmet this year.

“It shows leadership, it shows he wants to be here,” Diggs told journalists. “He really wants to be here. I’ve been with him ever since he came in [from the same 2021 draft class], and he’s worked hard, he’s earned everything, every dollar, as he’s performed on the field. I think it’s time to get him done, [to] make sure we can keep this thing together.”