Cowboys star projected to land mammoth $180,000,000 deal to kick off Brian Schottenheimer era

If the Dallas Cowboys thought the hard part was done with the hiring of head coach Brian Schottenheimer, they could stand to be sorely wrong. Jerry Jones' Cowboys opened their purse strings twice in recent years, signing Dak Prescott to a record four-year, $240 million extension and then signing CeeDee Lamb to a four-year, $136 million deal. Now it's time for another top-tier talent to get paid - star edge rusher Micah Parsons.

Not that the league needed another reminder, but Parsons took the Cowboys defense to another level in the second half of the 2024 season as the personnel got used to outgoing defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer's demands. With former Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus set to take over that role, it will be incumbent on the Joneses to make sure Parsons is also on board as they embark on a new era under Brian Schottenheimer.

While Parsons has shown he belongs in the same conversation as Raiders rusher Maxx Crosby, Dallas will still have to think long and hard over whether they can afford a third major extension for one of its stars. ESPN's Dan Graziano projected an interesting deal for Parsons in his latest piece for ESPN.

"We know the Cowboys' history of waiting until the last minute to get these big deals done, and if they wait again, any or all of those three [Myles Garrett, Crosby, T.J. Watt] could sail past [Nick] Bosa's number in the meantime. So I'll predict a deal here that imagines the top of this market moving up a few million annually before Parsons signs and still places him at the top of it once he does," Graziano wrote.

The ESPN insider projected that Parsons will be handed a five-years, $180 million deal with $125 million guaranteed. The deal would effectively reset the market at the position.

NFL: Pro Bowl Championship-AFC at NFC - Source: Imagn

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What to expect from Cowboys under Brian Schottenheimer

There have been a number of interesting hires across coaching staff in this cycle. Ohio State OC Chip Kelly became the latest re-entrant to the NFL after the Las Vegas Raiders hired him as their offensive coordinator in a deal that will pay him $6 million a year. That hire was met with applause from NFL fans across the board, but another hire that got similar treatment was the Cowboys bringing Eberflus to town.

Eberflus's previous stint in Dallas involved him serving as the Cowboys linebackers coach from 2011-17.

While the defense is not expected to regress, hopes are also high that the Cowboys will flesh out the running game this time around. In his press conference, Brian Schottenheimer made it a point to note that when he was a coach with the Seahawks, they led the league in rushing.