The Dallas Cowboys are heading into one of their most important seasons in recent history.

If they win — and make a legitimate run at the Super Bowl — there’s reason to believe Jerry Jones and company will keep the core of the team in place and Mike McCarthy as head coach.

But if they fall short?

Dak Prescott could very well join a new team following 2024, McCarthy will almost certainly be gone and the Cowboys — who have posted three-straight 12 win seasons — will have to hit the reset button.

Until the start of this month, the biggest questions were focused on how the Dallas Cowboys could keep their three core key players on the team, while still having cap room to sign talent around them. Those three are Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons.

We now know the Dallas Cowboys plan to let Prescott play out the 2024 season without an extension — and while the Dallas brass says they plan to give him one after the season — it’s clearly a move to see if he can finally get them over the hump. If not, they may easily move in another direction.

Lamb has solidified himself as one of the top receivers in the NFL and it’s likely he gets a contract extension sooner rather than later.

And then there’s Parsons.

The Dallas Cowboys are reportedly picking up the fifth-year option on Micah Parsons’ rookie contract and classifying him as a defensive end rather than a linebacker, per Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News, a deal that will save the team a little under $3 million.

Per that report, “as a linebacker, Parsons would earn a little more than $24 million in 2025, the final season of his rookie contract. As a defensive end, his 2025 salary will be $21.32 million.”

Micah Parsons will be under contract for the 2024 season on a $2.9 million base salary and $2.4 million signing bonus before his fifth-year option kicks in for the 2025 campaign.

Given that he’s emerged as one of the NFL’s most prominent game-changing talents, it’s hard to imagine the Dallas Cowboys won’t push for a contract extension before the 5th year option kicks in. Parsons likely will seek a deal that makes him the highest-paid defender in league history.

That distinction belongs to Nick Bosa, who penned a five-year, $170 million deal ahead of the 2023 season that leads all defensive players in terms of total money, average annual value ($50 million) and money guaranteed at signing ($88 million).

Dallas Cowboys Insider Reports Shocking Development On Potential Micah Parsons Extension, Cites Sources Who Believe It Won’t Happen

Parsons has made it clear he wants to be a “Cowboy for life” and with the team’s latest move to pick up his 5th-year option, it’s a safe assumption to think they will reach a record-breaking extension with the star pass rusher before having to pay out that money in 2025.

But Dallas Cowboys Insider Jori Epstein isn’t convinced they will give Micah Parsons the extension everyone is expecting,

“Micah is an interesting one, I was talking to a defensive coach from another team about this and I was just trying to understand. Because on one hand, we see his sack numbers and see what he can do, but it’s like, think about the biggest games they had, the playoff game against San Francisco. Like what did Micah do in those games?

And I had one coach tell me when the Cowboys are winning Micah is a Hall of Fame player. When the Cowboys need him most he’s pretty average,”

Epstein then compared Micah Parsons taking off plays to Chris Jones taking off plays, but yet Jones is still worth the money and helps the Chiefs win Super Bowls.

“And this coach wisely told me, Chris Jones takes off some plays but he makes them when they matter most, Micah isn’t 100 percent on all his plays, but he kind of makes them when they matter the least.”

Epstein then notes that she told this scenario to someone in the Dallas Cowboys front office and they named other players on the roster, pointing to a bigger cultural problem

Either way, it’s the first pushback that has come out about the Cowboys potentially not signing Micah Parsons to a long-term deal. We will see what happens.