Dallas Cowboys star pass rusher Micah Parsons requested a trade Friday, sending shockwaves through the NFL. Granted, Parsons and the Cowboys are in a contract standoff right now and the team has no plans of moving him, despite his request, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

This situation has been months in the making and Parsons is clearly unhappy with how negotiations have gone to this point. Dallas has paid tight end Jake Ferguson recently, for context, but Parsons could command one of the biggest contracts in the league.

“The people I’ve talked to believe that the Dallas Cowboys have zero plans to trade Micah Parsons and so this is now a classic standoff,” Fowler said on SportsCenter Saturday morning. “The teams I’ve talked to from around the league are trying to figure out what the heck Dallas is doing. They don’t know. They largely don’t think they’ll be available, but calls into Dallas inquiring about that potential availability will likely come in the coming days. 

“He will have immense trade value if so and then, otherwise, not much has changed between Parsons and the Cowboys, because they hadn’t been talking really about his contract for months. This has been at a true stalemate. So Parsons went directly to Stephen Jones to tell him, and now both sides have sort of regrouped. I checked with a source with Dallas about a reaction. I was told ‘none.’”

Parsons, 26, is entering the final year of his rookie deal. The two-time All-Pro pass rusher revealed that he initially approached the Cowboys about a contract extension after the 2023 season. Dallas “did not want to start any negotiations at that point.” Fast forward to this past March, Parsons met with Jones to talk about leadership. Parsons said the conversation shifted into a discussion about his contract. He informed Jones that his agent, David Mulugheta, would reach out.

When Mulugheta reached out, he was told the deal was “pretty much already done” — this wasn’t the case. From there, the Cowboys “went silent,” according to Parsons.

“Up to today, the team has not had a single conversation with my agent about a contract,” Parsons said. “Not one demand has been made by my agent about money, years or anything else.”

As far as if Parsons’ situation could change as far as a contract is concerned or if he actually gets traded, it’s currently a waiting game. He’s a special talent that Dallas wouldn’t necessarily want to get rid of.

“We’ve seen a lot of high profile players around the league request trades recently only to stay with their teams or get a deal done,” Fowler said. “While this could be the case here in Dallas, the situation is different because Parsons is only on a second contract. He’s in his mid 20s. He really has no blemishes as far as who you would give mega money to. He’s not really injured very often. He’s got massive production. He’s on a Reggie White like trajectory as a pass rusher, and so because of that, there would be immense value on the trade market. 

“Teams would be willing to give up a lot. You know, I checked one team that said, like, it would be a first round pick, and a lot more. It might even be two first round picks, just because you’d be getting such a unique player. A lot of times, teams don’t want to make these kinds of trades now, because you have to turn around and pay a guy, you know, 35, $40 million. This one would be different. Teams would be quite comfortable doing it.”