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Training camp is typically when players come back together with their teams and build chemistry ahead of the upcoming season.
That’s not the case for half of the NFC East division in 2025. Both the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders are instead focused on figuring out how to move forward with their respective stars after each demanded a trade. First, Commanders Pro Bowl No. 1 wide receiver Terry McLaurin reportedly requested a trade on Thursday while Cowboys All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons posted a three-screenshot-long announcement of his own trade demand on Friday.
On the surface, there are plenty of similarities. Two Pro Bowl/All-Pro players entering contract years who desire more money, specifically more years of guaranteed money, NOW. However, the context surrounding both Parsons and McLaurin is slightly different in a few nuanced ways. Here’s how their situations differ even though both possess leverage and are likely utilizing these trade requests to receive extensions from their respective franchises.
Micah Parsons seeks top of the market money OR trade from Dallas
Parsons, at the age of 26, is looking to become the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback. In his trade manifesto posted on Friday, he noted that wasn’t his original mindset and that both he and his agent reached out to owner/general manager Jerry Jones for an extension after his third season. Dallas said they wanted to wait until this offseason, so Parsons acquiesced.
The waiting only jacked up Parsons’ demands and for good reason. Parsons is the first player since sacks began being tracked as an individual statistic in 1982 to have 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 as a pro: White was the fourth overall pick in the 1984 NFL Supplemental Draft but didn’t begin playing NFL football until the 1985 season (he played two seasons in the USFL). Parsons’ 330 quarterback pressures since entering the NFL as the 12th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft are tied for the most in the league with Las Vegas Raiders Pro Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby, according to TruMedia. He also leads the league in quarterback pressure rate, 20.3% (minimum 1,000 pass rushes), since 2021.
Parsons’ value is laid bare for all to see when examining Dallas’ defensive expected points added (EPA) per play when Parsons is on the field is the best in the NFL since 2021, but when he’s not on the field in that same span, Dallas has the worst EPA per play in the league, per CBS Sports Research.
Cowboys defensive EPA/Play with Micah Parsons on/off field, since 2021On FieldOff FieldDefensive EPA/Play
0.08
-0.04
NFL Rank
1st
Last
Parsons is the best pass rusher the NFL has today, based on the aforementioned numbers, and at only 26-years-old, he deserves to be compensated like it. That’s the problem the Cowboys run into by waiting: the top of the edge rusher market has jumped three times this offseason alone.
Edge rusher market resets this offseason
“It’s challenging because you don’t need to be there [at a $40 million average per year salary] right? If this market is set at $35 [million], then it kind of backfires because you see Maxx [Crosby] goes to $35.5, $36 [million],” Parsons said on April 23. “Then you see guys that are older than you, and you can say your production and versatility matches what they’re doing, and you say ‘Why?’ … I would say I’m more in my prime than a lot of these other guys who are more in the second half of their career. That’s the challenging part man, just getting fully [honest] about ‘What’s your worth?’ I don’t really think it’s about the dollar. I think it’s all about how much someone thinks you’re worth.”
Now, the cost of doing business is making Parsons the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL today, or trading him away, something Dallas will do everything in their power to avoid. Those are literally the only two options, long-term, since using the franchise tag more than once can cripple a team’s salary cap. If the Cowboys actually told the rest of the league they’re open for business, Jerry Jones’ phone would have steam coming out of it with the amount of calls coming in from the other 31 teams.
Cowboys defense since drafting Micah Parsons, since 2021
NFL RankDefensive EPA/game
3.2
3rd
Sack Pct
8.1%
1st
QB Pressure Pct
40.0%
1st
McLaurin wants hazard pay for pre-Jayden Daniels era
Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin’s contract situation is significantly less black and white than Parsons’. Parsons could thrive in any team and any situation based on his physical gifts, motor and age. Meanwhile, McLaurin is set to enter the back half of his career fresh off a career year in 2024.
The 29-year-old, who turns 30 on Sept. 15, snatched the Commanders’ single-season record for receiving touchdowns with 13 last season. That ranked as the second-most in the NFL behind triple crown winner Ja’Marr Chase’s 17. McLaurin is set to enter the final season of a three-year, $68.4 million extension, so he’s looking for security following Washington’s run to the NFC Championship in 2024. McLaurin also watched DK Metcalf, a member of his 2019 NFL Draft class, lock down a four-year, $132 million extension upon being traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason. That’s a $33 million average per year salary, the fourth-best in the league among receivers, and McLaurin’s 13 receiving touchdowns in 2024 would also serve as a career high for Metcalf.
A key issue for McLaurin is how the data is pretty clear that most wide receivers, even Pro Bowl ones like McLaurin, fall off a cliff not too long after turning 30-years-old. Yes, ESPN did report on Thursday that there would be a market for McLaurin if he became available, but McLaurin is seeking this leverage to get one last bag while he can and simultaneously remain attached to 2024 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year quarterback Jayden Daniels.
McLaurin spent the first five years of his career with a revolving door at quarterback, one playoff appearance and no playoffs wins. In one season with Daniels, he set Washington’s single-season record for touchdown catches and won two playoff games.
Terry McLaurin career receiving touchdowns by QB
However, McLaurin’s leverage also comes from him being far and away the best pass catcher for a team whose quarterback is still very much developing as an NFL passer. He became just the eighth player in the last 15 seasons in 2024 with a 70% catch rate, 1,000 or more receiving yards and 13 or more receiving touchdowns in a season.
Daniels’ other weapons are Deebo Samuel — fresh off the worst year of his career (career-low 53.7 yards from scrimmage per game) with his mileage as a rusher appearing to catch up with him — , a promising but raw Luke McCaffrey, Noah Brown, a freshly unretired Micahel Gallup and a soon-to-be 35-year-old Zach Ertz. Washington would stunt Daniels’ growth if McLaurin isn’t on the field with him in 2025. McLaurin’s trade request is legit, but it’s really a plea to get a raise while remaining on the first class flight that is catching passes from Daniels into the wide receiver’s mid-thirties.
