Excuse Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones if he is not too happy with Mark Davis, the managing general partner of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Raiders signed Crosby to a three-year extension worth $106.5 million, including $91.5 million in guaranteed money earlier this week.
The new pact makes Crosby the highest paid non-quarterback in NFL history. That is, until Parsons inks his new pact.
It will be interesting to see how this contract affects Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons, who is currently in negotiations with the Cowboys. He will be seeking a contract which will eclipse Crosby’s annual average value.
With Davis surrendering to Crosby and giving him such a ginormous contract, it only means Parsons will have to get an offer that surpasses Crosby’s record-setting deal.
It teaches Jones a very valuable lesson he should have learned last season when all of the wide receivers like Justin Jefferson, Tyreek Hill and others were signing contracts before Jones struck a deal with CeeDee Lamb.
The Cowboys should have extended Parsons earlier and set the market price themselves. They could have gotten Parsons below Crosby’s value and paid wholesale.
Parsons still would have been very happy. Now, Jones has to pay retail. Instead of a win-win scenario, Parsons is the only one who wins as Jones will have to pay top dollar to keep his stud a Cowboy for life.
This is typical Jones. He allows other players to set the market and drive the value up for his players. Therefore, Jones has to pay more money, which detracts from the salary cap for other players.
You can bet Parsons popped a cork on a bottle of champagne when he heard the terms of Crosby’s deal. He definitely made a toast to the Raiders in anticipation of the payday he is about to strike.
According to NFL insider Mike Florio, it is very simple proposition. Parsons gets more money and noses out Crosby for a record-breaking deal.
“A five-year, $168 million contract would create a new-money average of $36 million, at an actual payout of $33.6 million annually,” Florio said. “Give Micah $40 million to sign. Add a $1.17 million base salary for 2025. For 2026, give him a fully-guaranteed $35 million salary with the right to convert it to a signing bonus. The 2027 salary would be $33 million, guaranteed for injury and fully guaranteed in March 2026. That’s a $109.17 million practical guarantee. Throw in a pair of $29.415 million non-guaranteed base salaries on the back end, and that’s it.”
That’s a fancy pile of numbers. But what if Micah – despite his suggestion that he’ll take less than market value – doesn’t want $36 million APY?
Why shouldn’t Micah ask for $40 million per year?
Things are never as simple as they should be when one is negotiating with someone as shrewd as Jones. What Florio proposes makes sense, but since when have the Cowboys always made sense in their negotiation tactics?
Rarely … when it comes to the wait that inevitably leads to a skyrocketing price tag.
