As it relates to any delay in sealing a deal on a new contract that will make All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons the highest-paid non-QB in NFL history?
Angst aside, there is really nothing to see here.
That also applies to a story we broke years ago about how Jerry Jones and his family often take a majestic vacation – all the kids and all the grandkids – for spring break … which just happens to coincide with the March start of NFL free agency.Which means, yes, the Cowboys GM is often on a yacht somewhere off the coast of Greece or something at that critical time on the league calendar.
But again … most Cowboys fans have made their uncomfortably peace with all that.
At the same time, nobody in the organization has ever conceded that offseason vacations are due to the fact that there is a “lull” in the team’s overall activities. Rather, Stephen Jones in particular loves to talk about running the football side of a Cowboys as a “24/7 business.”
And that brings us to a report from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler – and one we find to be troublesome on one of two levels.
“So, this is kind of a relaxed situation,” Fowler said Saturday morning on SportsCenter. “You know, when I talk to the people involved, they’re like, ‘Look, it’s a lull in the summer right now, not a lot going on. People are on vacation. Team officials were out on the beach somewhere.”
Wait a minute. “People” – that is, multiple people – from here inside The Star literally told Fowler ….
*”It’s a lull right now.”
*”Not a lot going on.”
*Team officials are out on a beach somewhere.”
Can we all see the dual-threat problem here?
It’s not about whether Parsons is going to eventually get a new deal with an average of $40 million annually, which will likely be the highest APY deal ever for a non-quarterback.
That’s going to happen, hopefully in time for this to not be a problematic distraction over the course of Cowboys training camp, which launches in Oxnard on July 21.
No, the problems are this …
One, we frankly have a very difficult time believing that multiple “people involved” offered this information to Fowler. It doesn’t pass the smell test that one person said the “lull/not a lot/beach” quote. But the odds that multiple “people involved” told this to the Bristol-based reporter are … zero.
And two, even if Fowler is exaggerating and paraphrasing or even slightly misquoting … but even one Dallas official expressed to him the outrageous idea that the Cowboys front office is taking the summer off, and that such an expression is a reflection of the truth?
Shame on the “24/7” Cowboys.
