Not all is blissful with the Dallas Cowboys at the moment.
Chief among the team's issues is working out an extension for pass rusher Micah Parsons and cornerback Trevon Diggs working his way back from a surgically repaired knee.
Diggs' salary was recently reduced by $500,000 due to a de-escalator clause put into effect after he didn't meet a percentage mark for time rehabbing at the team facility.
The two-time Pro Bowler was surprised by the enforcement of the clause, but Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones explained Tuesday that the team believes Diggs would be closer to returning had he rehabbed with the club.
"He certainly paid a price for not being here," Jones told 105.3 The Fan, via The Athletic’s Jon Machota, "but we're paying a price, too, because we felt like he might be further along had he done his rehab here. He may differ with that. But had he done his rehab here, we feel strongly that he might be further along. That's in the best interest of the team and the organization that comes with getting a big contract, which he received."
Diggs is currently on the physically unable to perform list and his status for the beginning of the season is unknown. He rehabbed in Miami, far from where Jones believes he should've been traveling on his road to recovery.
"I think a player is much better off training with us than he is somewhere else," Jones said. "I just think the discipline to come in every day, do the work is there when they're here. ... One thing we can do, which we will continue to do is put in every player's contract, especially guys that we pay significant amounts of money, we expect leadership and we expect them to be here. Certainly we addressed that with Diggs."
As Jones referred to, the Cowboys also addressed paying Diggs, signing him to a five-year, $97 million extension just over two years ago.
Another defender is due a massive extension this year, but Dallas and Parsons, a Pro Bowler in each of his four seasons, have yet to come to an agreement. It's the latest contract saga to linger through the offseason and into training camp for the Cowboys. Last year, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb didn't ink his extension until Aug. 26, and quarterback Dak Prescott memorably signed a new deal on the first Sunday of the 2024 season.
Prior to Lamb getting his extension done, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones memorably stated he did not have "any urgency" to get a deal worked out. He's mirrored that sentiment with Parsons.
Stephen Jones raised eyebrows with his Sunday comments that for Dallas and Parsons to come to an agreement, the pass rusher's "got to want to be paid, too."
Thus, reaching even beyond last season to past deals with Prescott, running back Ezekiel Elliott, guard Zack Martin, etc., a narrative has developed that the Cowboys simply wait too long to work out extensions for their big-name talent.
"We don't agree on that," Stephen Jones said Tuesday. "We don't drag deals out. We do deals when there's an opportunity to do a deal. Certainly, no one knows what goes on internally with a particular negotiation. Sometimes players and agents aren't ready to pull the trigger until they see other cards played.
"What we're not going to do is go out and do something that's not responsible in terms of just in the name of getting a deal done one month earlier go do it and pay the guy another $5 million of your cap space. Especially when you're dealing, in our particular case, internally with guys who are homegrown here and we feel like they want to be here. I felt like Dak wanted to be here. I always felt like CeeDee wanted to be here."
Parsons has been clear he wants to be in Dallas, as well. But an extension could've been doled out last offseason, or much earlier this one. Instead, training camp is burning away in Oxnard, California, and Parsons remains sans extension.
Jones confirmed the team is currently engaging in talks with cornerback DaRon Bland, who's also coming off an injury-shortened 2024 campaign.
Of course, just as there is with Diggs' recovery and Parsons' extension, there's no timeline for a Bland extension.
