MICAH’S MINICAMP MAMBA

Micah Parsons is headed for a holdout. Our own Gavin Dawson isn’t holding back—getting behind the mic to guarantee Parsons’ absence. In fact, Dawson’s doubling down, expanding on the reasons why Parsons is barreling toward the wrong kind of Training Camp headlines. 

Last week, the superstar gamebreaker alternately professed his availability for Mandatory Minicamp next week and put contract negotiations in Jones Family hands in the same tweet. 

One of the elements we got into on the How Bout Wow podcast re: Parsons: 

What the #HUMBLEBEAST has had pinned to the top since December 8, 2021: 

(Yahoo Sports)

As a rookie that year, Parsons gobbled up AP1/DROY honors on the way to being sandwiched between TJ Watt, who tied the single-season sack record, and Aaron Donald, subjected to equal parts Father Time and voter fatigue even as his counting stats were actually more impressive than at least one of his three-out-of-four DPOY reign from 2017-2020. 

Parsons’ base salary: $660K. Signing bonus included: just over $3.1M. 

2022 followed suit. Parsons again produced an AP1 season matched by a silver-medal DPOY standoff, with Nick Bosa supplanting Watt and Chris Jones in Donald’s DT bronze slot. Parsons also garnered 8th-place league MVP votes (Bosa came in 6th). 

Parsons pocketed nearly $3.9M. 

The EDGE/OLB/DE debate was as murky as a Trevon Diggs MRI in 2023. Watt returned from injury with a vengeance to once again lead the league in sacks. Myles Garrett took home DPOY in something of a career achievement nod—though PFF loved him. Parsons “slipped” to AP2/DPOY3. 

2023 earnings: just under $4.7M. 

In 2024, Parsons battled injury and illness but still delivered nearly a sack (12) per game (13) and earned a fourth straight Pro Bowl selection. He took home just over $5.4M, the team picked up that 5th-year option, and there is no question that even the escalation to $24M for the season ahead is a contract Parsons has outplayed. 

Consider the all-time greats. Since 1960, only three dudes have sacked quarterbacks 50+ times, forced 9+ fumbles, and defended 9+ passes in their first four seasons: 

Cowboys’ legend and NFL Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware (53.5/18/12), who like Parsons earned two AP1 nods and an AP2 alongside a pair of DPOY runner-up finishes and three Top-5s. 

Future first-ballot freak J.J. Watt (57/12/37), whose video game counting stats—including the single-season TFL record, 39—added up to three AP1 nods, two DPOY trophies, and an MVP2. 

And Micah Parsons (52.5/9/9), the only man on this medal stand to burst into the league as DROY and make the Pro Bowl four times. 

While there is little for the beast to remain humble about, the contractual facts of his case remain undisputed. 

Slotted rookie pay scales. 

Team-controlled 5th-year options for 1st-Rounders. 

The franchise tags.

The salary cap. 

And yet, Myles Garrett, Danielle Hunter, and Maxx Crosby all got paid as the average annual value vs. total guaranteed game of musical chairs for highest-paid pass rushers played out in similar fashion to CeeDee Lamb versus Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase or Dak Prescott vs. the entire league. 

In the modern NFL, a player’s only real leverage is holding out. As the next star in line to sign a record-breaking deal, what Parsons chooses to do next will show Cowboys Nation where his priorities lie. 

The paradox with Parsons distilled to its essence: 

He devours opponents on Sunday; he draws criticism for maybe-keep-that-in-the-locker-room distractions and becomes the public’s preening-for-the-cameras poster child when things don’t go the Cowboys’ way. 

The absurdity with those Jones Family hands: 

They draw out extensions with homegrown franchise pillars they have no intention of not maxing out; they rightfully earn criticism for resetting the market anyway and hamstring roster-building flexibility around Dak and CeeDee—and, presumably, Micah. 

Where this story gets rich, and, why priorities matter: 

Legacy. 

In addition to the aforementioned medal stand, Parsons is etched into a Mt. Rushmore of all-time greats—quarterback hunters who recorded at least 10 sacks in each of their first four seasons. 

Dwight Freeny. Derrick Thomas. Reggie White. 

And Micah Parsons. 

Expanded further, his 52.5 takedowns rank 6th during a player’s first four seasons, trailing only Ware, MegaWatt, Thomas, Mark Gastineau, and White.  

Only Ware and White won Super Bowls, and each accomplished the feat with their second teams—that’s how impactful of a player Parsons can be. 

And before this piece devolves into what being a one-helmet guy does or does not mean—especially for a player entering his age-26 season where the word “unprecedented” precedes “production on a rookie contract”—we’re really only here because of the lion.

Back when Parsons pinned that tweet, he announced his clothing line trademark the very next day: 

Homage paid to this letter penned to The Players’ Tribune by The Black Mamba in 2015. 

Here’s Kobe, preceding lines to the lion having to eat: 

Maybe I’m just old school. Maybe my line of thinking is that of a rotary phone. Maybe this smartphone generation enjoys sharing games of domination. Maybe they like taking turns. Maybe they enjoy competing passive aggressively.

He continues parroting one of Michael Jordan’s greatest commercials into a video after the quote, a trailer for his documentary, Kobe Bryant’s Muse. 

A teammate asked Kobe if he wanted some advice ahead of his first game against Jordan. 

Teammate: Whatever you do, don’t look him in the eye. 

Kobe: Wait…excuse me? Why the hell would I not look him in the eye? I don’t think my teammate understood that I’m that, too. You can’t bleeping look me in the eye, either, buddy.

Lost in the social media and personal branding efforts is the payoff. 

Either way, I refuse to change what I am. A lion has to eat. Run with me or run from me.

With a protracted holdout, Parsons would miss an opportunity to actualize with his Cowboys what Kobe enforced through sheer will within the Lakers during the second championship window of his storied career: 

Only by getting his teammates to elevate their play could the Lakers return to glory. 

In 2008, Kobe Bryant was named regular season MVP before the Lakers went on a run and lost in the NBA Finals to the Celtics. On-court ass-chewings and psychological warfare from the postgame podium wasn’t enough, so Kobe ran through Pau Gasol’s chest to set to tone during the Beijing Olympics later that Summer.

#MAMBAMENTALITY 

Ultimately, the pair forged a championship bond that produced back-to-back banners in 2009 and 2010—when the once-thought-soft Spaniard led all postseason players in offensive rebounding, and the team stepped up around Kobe on a 6-for-24 shooting night in Game 7 to exact revenge on the hated Celtics. Gasol’s 19 points and 18 boards more than earned Kobe’s respect. 

In 2018, when Kobe’s Mamba Mentality: How I Play hit bookshelves, some were still surprised to see Gasol penning the foreword. Atop, in big, bold letters: 

IN FEBRUARY OF 2008, MY LIFE CHANGED. 

It was after 1:00 AM after a cross-country flight after an in-season trade when Gasol arrived at his hotel, the newest member of the Lakers—when Kobe knocked on his door. Gasol called it a tremendous demonstration of a true leader because the message was clear: 

No time to waste when you’re chasing that ring. 

Gasol goes on to say that as the oldest sibling in his family, Kobe was the closest thing to an older brother—not in spite of the times where Kobe tested and challenged him, but because of them. 

You can question Kobe’s tactics and near-sociopathic mindset toward winning at all costs, but not the Lakers’ results—especially, not what he brought out of Gasol. 

That’s how winning works. 

So THE LION IS ALWAYS HUNGRY™. 

Is Micah Parsons more ready to win a Super Bowl, as the tweet that started this whole thing concludes? 

Is he ready to embrace what comes with taking on an expanded leadership role, as Ware professed last month—letting new teammates learning new schemes feel exactly what it means when they’ve got a guy opponents should avoid eye contact with, buddy? 

Does he understand that as one of the few players league-wide who can stand on one-of-one business and be taken seriously, every level of the defense can be made better by every single rep alongside him? 

That Tyler Booker’s rise impacting the entire O-Line and Jake Ferguson’s continued development and Dak Prescott’s return to All-Pro form—or Joe Milton’s readiness in a no-not-again injury report—all happen faster if they’re forged in the fire against him every day on the other side? 

The difference between making $1 more than Myles Garrett and earning even a single ring is the same kind of conversation hoop heads would be having if Kobe didn’t prove he could win without Shaq.

It’s the reason Charles Haley is revered (5 Super Bowl rings) even though Parsons is already over halfway to surmounting his counting stats (100.5 sacks in 13 years).