Cowboys' Micah Parsons risks temporary retirement, frozen contract if he leaves training camp

Micah Parsons has backed himself into a corner just a little bit.

The Dallas Cowboys superstar edge rusher showed up in Oxnard, California for training camp while he seeks a new, record-setting contract. But by showing up, instead of staying away, Parsons has taken the first step on an unprecedented but possible path.

Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio presented the information in a new article Wednesday morning. In essence, by showing up, Parsons has limited his options a bit.

A player can't leave for more than five days after showing up at camp, Florio writes. If a player never shows up in the first place, they have more than 10 weeks of the regular season to decide to report with no punishment.

But in this scenario:

"If a player leaves the team, during training camp or the regular season, he has five days to return," Florio writes. "If he doesn’t, the team can place the player on its reserve list as a retired player. And if that happens under those specific circumstances, the player cannot play again that year. For any team. His contract gets tolled. Everything freezes in place. It’s a no-win situation for the player."

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Parsons didn't rule out the idea of leaving camp after already reporting when he spoke to reporters on Tuesday. Surely, his agent and he will have discussed the implications of leaving, and it seems highly unlikely he'd take a long absence and risk this.

The Cowboys wouldn't make anyone happy by putting Parsons on the reserve/retired list anyway, and it'd also prevent them from having their star on the field at any point this season, too.

So while it's highly unlikely, it's an interesting twist on the whole situation. Every piece of this Parsons drama continues to bear watching.

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