Jerry Jones on Micah Parsons contract holdup: ‘You can get hit by a car, seriously’

There are plenty of reasons why the Dallas Cowboys should sign Micah Parsons, but Jerry Jones has a counterargument. He could get hit by a car.

Cowboys’ leadership held a press conference to kick off training camp this week. Predictably, Parsons was a popular topic as the All-Pro linebacker seeks a new contract. Also predictably, Jones took the press conference off the rails by addressing those contract negotiations, starting with bringing up Parsons’ high-ankle sprain from last season.

“Just because we sign him, doesn’t mean we are going to have him,” Jones said. “He missed six games last year.”

Actually, Parsons missed four games. A high-ankle sprain could cause a player to miss six games, but Parsons pushed to get back sooner and still recorded his fourth straight season of 12 sacks or more. Sure, it was only a two-game mistake. However, if an owner is going to criticize their star player publicly, it’s best to have all the facts in order.

After Jones’ first bizarre response to negotiations with Parsons, NFL Network’s Jane Slater pressed the Cowboys brass on reasons for the holdup, questioning whether it was due to injury language or other nuances within the contract. And after Stephen Jones evaded the question with a sort of non-answer, the 82-year-old Cowboys owner interjected.

“Contracts are 4, 5 years, okay? There’s a lot of water under the bridge if you step out there and do something in the first 2 or 3. You can get hit by a car, seriously.” – Jerry Jones on the holdup in signing Micah Parsons pic.twitter.com/ltI7Jsrre7

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 21, 2025

“Contracts are four, five years, okay,” said Jerry Jones. “There’s a lot of water under the bridge if you step out there and do something in the first two or three. You can get hit by a car, seriously. And so, there’s a lot to look at over a lot of years that could make a big difference. Have you ever heard of any clubs committing to players, and then they didn’t pan out after they committed to them? We have.”

Parsons is entering the fifth and final year of his rookie contract, and he was willing to sign an extension before the start of last season. The Cowboys got deals done with CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott instead. But the price tag for Parsons already went up after T.J. Watt signed a three-year $123 million extension with the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. How much is Parsons going to ask for now that he knows getting hit by a car is a possibility?

An NFL owner teasing the possibility of their star player getting hurt is bad. An NFL owner teasing the possibility of their star playing and getting injured due to being hit by a car is really bad. Credit Slater for asking direct questions. But Jones didn’t have to answer them like this.