FRISCO — Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wouldn’t align himself with any talks of a rebuild after the Micah Parsons trade. He said consistently on Thursday that the deal not only made them better in the present, but in the long term. Cowboys co-owner Stephen Jones and head coach Brian Schottenheimer — two parties involved in a “unanimous” decision to trade Parsons — also alluded to a similar mindset.
So what say you, Dak Prescott?
“We added a great player and obviously added some picks for the future,” the Cowboys quarterback said about the Parsons trade to Green Bay. “I’m not going to say we’re better. We’ve got to go out and prove it.”
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The team is not the only one with something to prove. In the wake of the Parsons trade, there’s also pressure on the Cowboys’ front office. There’s an onus on the decision-makers, headlined by Jerry Jones, to make the most of the two first-round picks acquired from the Packers along with defensive tackle Kenny Clark. There’s also an onus to take the money they had slated for Parsons over the next four to five seasons and use it elsewhere.
So far, so good.
The Cowboys signed cornerback DaRon Bland to a four-year extension on Sunday that will keep him with Dallas through the 2029 season. The agreement is worth $92 million and includes $50 million in guarantees, a person familiar with the contract told The Dallas Morning News. Bland will now be a top-six corner in the NFL in terms of average annual contract value.
Bland’s value should be immediately required. The Cowboys open the season against the Eagles, the reigning Super Bowl champions, on Thursday in Philadelphia. Bland could play outside or inside, depending on whether Trevon Diggs is available for Week 1 or not.
“It gives us the versatility and the multiplicity that we want,” Schottenheimer said of Bland. “We can change up different personnel groupings. From a play-caller, that can be really hard. Because certain times, it’s like where is he? It was like that for a long time with Jalen Ramsey. He’s inside, he’s outside, he travels, he doesn’t travel. I think that’s what’s so powerful for us.”
The Cowboys started talking with Bland’s representation about a potential contract extension this summer. Those talks continued through training camp and ultimately concluded Saturday night when both sides agreed to terms.
“I was kind of surprised,” said Bland, who has 14 interceptions in 41 career games. “Kind of a little bit dumbfounded. Can’t believe I’m going to be making that much.”
Bland said the timing of the deal was a relief for him, too. The former fifth-round pick out of Fresno State was scheduled to be a free agent after this season. He said the talks for his extension involved mostly his agent, Josh Arnold of Synergy Sports, and the Cowboys.
“It’s always something you have in the back of your mind a little bit because it’s the last year of my contract,” said Bland, who holds the NFL record for most interception returns for a touchdown in a season (five). “It was always going to be in the back of my mind.”
The deal may have come as a surprise to Bland — at least initially — but it probably shouldn’t have been to those who follow the Cowboys.
By trading Parsons, the Cowboys shifted course. Jones said in training camp that the offer they had to Parsons before the draft was off the table because “Micah took it off.” Speaking on Thursday after the trade, Jones was adamant that the idea to trade Parsons followed shortly after that decision and had been under consideration since.
“He was an asset that we got four great years out of,” Jones said about Parsons. “But when you’re talking about making a contract — the kind that he got — and for the future, that’s quite a commitment, and none of that counts about what he did those first four years and all of it goes against what he can do for you in the future.”
And what he would cost, too. Jones likes to equate the salary cap to pie; without Parsons in the fold for the future, there were more slices to go around.
Bland was the first. He likely won’t be the last. The Cowboys could shift their attention to left guard Tyler Smith soon. The former first-round pick has two Pro Bowl seasons in his first three seasons. Schottenheimer also voiced his hope that Smith, heading into the fourth year of his rookie deal, could be on the radar of the front office, too.
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“What I love about Tyler is that he hasn’t checked up one day,” Schottenheimer said. “He’s probably one of our hardest practice players that we have. He’s not missed a beat; not said a word. I think that’s one of the things you respect about him.
“But what a talent. Hopefully he’s the next one that we can get [a contract] done.”
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (left) visits with his son Stephen Jones in their training camp tower as they watch practice in Oxnard, Calif., July 30, 2025.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
Other potential extension candidates include defensive end Sam Williams and wide receiver George Pickens. Both have something to prove this season, however. For Williams, it’s proving he can stay healthy after missing last season with a torn ACL. For Pickens, it’s proving he can stay in the good graces of a coaching staff, as he has so far, while playing well on the field.
In addition to signing other players, the Cowboys’ front office also has a responsibility to use its new draft assets well. The Cowboys haven’t had multiple first-round picks since 2008. They’re scheduled to have two in each of the next two drafts, barring a trade for a veteran, just as they did when they acquired wide receiver Amari Cooper in 2018. Stephen Jones indicated on Thursday that’s something they could do.
Moving forward, the Cowboys believe they have the chance to make the most of what they acquired from the Parsons trade.
“Micah Parsons did an outstanding job for us for four years and in a little bit of the way Herschel Walker may have had his greatest contribution to the Cowboys [was] what he brought to us when he left,“ Jerry Jones said. ”It could be a tremendous thing for our fans and the success of this team.”
The pressure is on them to accomplish that.
Twitter: @JoeJHoyt
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