Kicking toxic habits to the curb cannot happen overnight. The road to recovery takes time, but the Dallas Cowboys took some steps in the right direction when it comes to being more proactive with identifying and re-signing players they want to be a part of the team’s long-term future.
No, it wasn’t Micah Parsons, but news broke Sunday that Dallas re-signed Pro Bowl tight end Jake Ferguson to a four-year, $52 million contract with $30 million in total guarantees, per NFL Media. The Cowboys are re-signing Ferguson, their 2022 fourth-round pick, ahead of the final season of his rookie deal in 2025 even after an injury-plagued 2024 campaign. He suffered a knee injury in Week 1 at the Cleveland Browns last season that he was unable to fully shake. Ferguson’s injuries woes were compounded by a concussion in Week 11 against the Houston Texans and quarterback Dak Prescott suffering a season-ending hamstring tear in Week 9 at the Atlanta Falcons. All of that added up to Ferguson producing only 59 catches for 494 yards receiving and no touchdowns on 86 targets, making 2024 the first season of his NFL career without a touchdown catch.
“My knee hurt for sure,” Ferguson said of the 2024 season at mandatory minicamp. “The concussion was weird, but I’ve said this before: If I’m out on the field, I should be able to give it my all. So I definitely wasn’t satisfied with how I played the whole year last year. I don’t think I’ve ever played a full season and not scored a touchdown, so that was something I came into this offseason really working on.”
The season prior in 2023, Ferguson and Prescott made sweet music together. The tight end caught 71 passes for 761 yards and five touchdowns on 102 targets, which resulted in his sole Pro Bowl nod of his three-year career. Prescott threw an NFL-leading 36 touchdown passes that season and earned league MVP runner-up for his efforts. With a return to health in 2025, both Prescott and Ferguson could have significant bounce back years with the quarterback going to ripping tight window throws over the middle to the 6-foot-5-inch, 244-pound tight end. Plenty of that was on display in mandatory minicamp in the spring.
“That’s been going back since I got here. I love the seam ball, he loves throwing it,” Ferguson said. “We just happened to have that play called today, but we’ve been repping that daily, routes on air, stuff like that. That’s been a connection that’s been building continuously.”
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones made a smart move, re-signing a key player before they hit free agency despite coming off of a down year. It’s the time of proactivity that would serve Dallas well more often than not when it comes to contract extensions going forward.
“Our relationship’s great,” Prescott said of Ferguson on the last day of mandatory minicamp. “I think if I probably finished that season out, he’s going to get a touchdown. That’s a guy that’s a competitor. He wants to win, has high standards. I know a year like that, is only pushing him. I’ve seen in the way that he’s approaching this offseason and attacking everything, the details, the questions he’s asking. Our relationship is only growing. He’s a talented guy. He’s an enforcer on this offense. And we need him.”
Time for Jones to overcome fears with Micah Parsons
Jones did everything he could at the Cowboys’ introductory training camp press conference on Monday to show he, more often than not, doesn’t trust his players to remain healthy enough, in the long run, to sign his own marquee players early. Jones’ fear signals why All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons remains on the final year of his rookie contract entering the 2025 despite well outperforming that deal.
“There’s a lot of water under the bridge if you step out there and do something in the first two to three years,” Jones said Monday about giving out early contract extensions. “You can get hit by a car. Seriously. There’s a lot to look at over a lot of years that could make a big difference.”
Parsons, at the age of 26, is the first player since sacks became tracked as an individual statistic in 1982 to register 12 or more sacks in each of his first four seasons in the NFL. Hall of Famer Reggie White accomplished the feat in his first four seasons played in the NFL but not in his first four years in the league: White was the fourth overall pick in the 1984 NFL Supplemental Draft but didn’t begin playing NFL football until the 1985 season. Parsons’ 330 quarterback pressures since entering the NFL in 2021 are tied for the most in the league with Las Vegas Raiders Pro Bowler Maxx Crosby, according to TruMedia.
Yet, Jones’ paralysis has him thinking back to early deals for cornerback Trevon Diggs and right tackle Terence Steele not working out because of injuries despite Parsons missing just five total games in four seasons. Four of those were in 2024 because of an ankle sprain, a figure Jones accidentally misrepresented as six games missed.
“Just because we sign him, doesn’t mean we’re going to have him,” Jerry Jones said Monday. “He was hurt [four, not six] games last year. Seriously. I remember signing a player for the highest paid at the position in the league and he got knocked out two-thirds of the year, Dak Prescott. So there’s a lot of things you can think about just as the player does when you’re thinking about committing and guaranteeing money.”
The reason Prescott is on a four-year, $240 million contract, which gives him the highest average per year salary ($60 million) in the NFL, is because Jones waited to do a deal until hours before Week 1 last season. He could have re-signed Prescott at any point after a 2022 down year in which he led the NFL with 15 interceptions. Playing the waiting game allowed Prescott to revive his leverage and sign that market-resetting deal. It’s too late for Jones to recover leverage with Parsons, but perhaps he can do what’s best for his franchise by re-signing Parsons and then quickly addressing a new contract for two-time Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith — the new leader of Dallas’ offensive line. Other key players entering contract years for the Cowboys include All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland, All-Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey and wide receiver George Pickens.
Hope for Jones to change his ways at 82-years-old might be too much to ask, but the re-signing of Ferguson indicates the Cowboys owner might be able to take a different approach to taking care of his top players in the future. Either way, Parsons is the obvious next step.
