FRISCO, Texas — The NFL draft is two days away, but the Dallas Cowboys are still looking at ways to improve other than the 10 current selections they have over seven rounds on Thursday through Saturday.
Owner and general manager Jerry Jones said after Tuesday’s predraft news conference that the Cowboys are working on “pretty substantive trades” regarding players, although he offered no specifics other than saying they are taking calls with teams.
The Cowboys have made trades for quarterback Trey Lance, wide receiver Jonathan Mingo, wide receiver Brandin Cooks and cornerback Stephon Gilmore in recent years but have not made a blockbuster deal since the midseason addition of Amari Cooper at the trade deadline in 2018. Earlier this offseason the Cowboys made trades for linebacker Kenneth Murray Jr. (Tennessee Titans) and cornerback Kaiir Elam (Buffalo Bills).
The Cowboys have more than $37 million in salary cap space, according to NFLPA figures, although a chunk of that will go to draft picks, practice squad additions, injury settlements and incentives.
Jones has long had a history of making draft-day trades. Since Jones took over the Cowboys in 1989, the team has made 72 trades. Its last trade involving a first-round pick came in 2021 when Dallas moved down to No. 12 in a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles and still came away with Micah Parsons.
The Cowboys and Parsons are working on a long-term extension that would make him potentially the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL. Speaking at the annual league meeting last month, Jones said he and Parsons met for “five or six hours” and came to an agreement on the length of a deal, guaranteed money and overall money, but the finer details of the contract needed to be worked out between executive vice president Stephen Jones and Parsons’ agent, David Mulugheta.
“Believe me, if we could sign Micah to a number we wanted to sign him to, we’d do it right now,” Stephen Jones said Tuesday. “But right now there’s a difference in what we feel like is the right number and what he feels like is the right number.”
Parsons has been involved in the early portion of the Cowboys’ offseason program that began last week. Jerry Jones said he is “not surprised” that Parsons has been participating and believes it will help Parsons in the long term.
“The assumption here is that we’re going to get something done and so he knows or should know how important his work is around here and how important his being around here working is to leadership,” Jerry Jones said. “It’s a big deal. It’s the main reason why I’ve kind of taken some of the attitude I’ve taken about this thing. Micah just has to be elevated in his leadership and will be, or it will be a downer when he gets his anticipated contract. It will be a downer if he does not elevate leadership.”
Parsons, speaking Tuesday night at a charity event, said the deal is less about the dollar figure and more about what the Cowboys think he is worth, and that “it’s extremely important” to get the extension done.
“You really see a lot of players struggle when guys aren’t participating in camp and they get off to slow starts. I don’t want to get off to no slow start,” Parsons said. “I want to hit the ground running and establish ourselves in this league and get some wins early in the season and be in rhythm. It’s going to be extremely important for me to get going and lead these guys.”
Parsons said he would continue to take part in the offseason program but hinted there might be times when he does not do the on-field work. He said he is there now out of respect for new coach Brian Schottenheimer and trying to build their relationship, while also attempting to grow as a leader.
“I’ve still got to learn the playbook and I’m not so much of an iPad person where I can just keep learning,” Parsons said. “Like, I’ve got to walk through it. Maybe so much I might not be on the field part of it, but I’ll be there learning where at least I’m getting prepared to be ready Week 1.”