Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer is planning to meet with the team’s star edge rusher Micah Parsons to address his actions during their Friday win over the Atlanta Falcons.
Parsons did not play in the preseason, but he was on the sidelines for Friday’s game. He was the only Dallas player not wearing a jersey and was spotted lying down on a training table behind the Cowboys bench during an offensive drive early in the third quarter.
Images of Parsons lying on the table went viral on social media and drew the ire of Cowboys fans. Still, Schottenheimer made it clear he wants to talk to the 26-year-old before commenting on the matter.
‘Without talking to Micah, I need to figure out what he was doing and why he was doing it,’ Schottenheimer said during a Saturday conference call, per ESPN. ‘So, until I talk to him, I’m obviously not going to talk about it.’
Parsons only addressed his lie-down in a social media post shortly after the game wrapped. He quote-tweeted a post from WFAA’s Mike Leslie that explained Parsons only laid on the table for ‘a relatively short portion of the evening.’
‘I’d never disrespect the guys out there fighting for their lives,’ Parsons wrote.
Micah Parsons contract negotiations, trade request
Parsons’ latest antics come as he continues to be embroiled in a contract dispute with the Cowboys. The two parties have not yet been able to agree to a lucrative, long-term extension, and Parsons even requested a trade away from Dallas as progress between the two sides stagnated.
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones has been adamant Dallas will eventually re-sign Parsons. The 82-year-old also expressed his belief the two parties had already reached an agreement on ‘term, amount, guarantees, everything’ before Parsons’ agent told him they still needed to negotiate.
‘It would’ve made him the highest guaranteed player other than a quarterback in the NFL,’ Jones said of the purported offer.
Parsons has corroborated he and Jones discussed a deal but made it clear he expected the Cowboys would speak to his agent to get a deal done.
‘Up to today the team has not had a single conversation with my agent about a contract,’ Parsons wrote Aug. 1, when he posted his trade request to social media.
As a result, Parsons and the Cowboys remain at an impasse. That led the 26-year-old to hold-in during Dallas’ training camp, and it has created doubt about his status for the Cowboys’ Week 1 game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Schottenheimer has noted his belief Parsons will play in Dallas’ season opener on Thursday, Sept. 4.
But if things change, the first-year coach expressed confidence in the team’s depth behind the All-Pro talent.
‘I think (defensive end) is an area that we’re pretty deep,’ Schottenheimer said.