The $130 million reason Cowboys urged to trade Micah Parsons

The Dallas Cowboys and Micah Parsons aren't on the same page.

And they don't have a ton of time to figure things out, either.

The superstar pass rusher has requested a trade in the midst of bumpy contract negotiations (or lack thereof) with the Cowboys and owner Jerry Jones.

Parsons is entering the final year of his current deal, and he's the top young defender in football, having tallied a dozen sacks or more in each of his first four NFL seasons.

When Parsons signs a new contract somewhere, he'll break T.J. Watt's record ($41 million) for annual average value for a non-quarterback. The question now is whether Dallas will be the team who gives him that deal or not.

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And it's at least possible to see what the Cowboys are thinking, sort of.

Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox broke it down in the context of the massive deals that Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb signed last offseason that pay them a combined more-than $90 million per year.

Adding a Parsons salary to that is a heck of a lot of money for three guys.

"If Parsons is prepared to leave, the Cowboys should see what they can get in return," Knox writes. "They're unlikely to be serious Super Bowl contenders within the next few seasons, and paying more than $130 million per year for three players would be hard to justify if they aren't. Trading Parsons would likely bring back a pair of first-round picks and more. The Cowboys owe it to themselves to see just how high his price tag might go."

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The NFL salary cap is possible to manage even with money like that. Teams can move around money within deals or convert things to bonuses at different time to help stay under the cap.

And it might not be that wise to draw the line at Parsons, a generational superstar.

But there's at least a case there, laid out by Knox, for Dallas to play hardball here in a way that the fans probably don't love.

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