The NFL is a league where the superstars, usually, get paid.
Until they don’t.
The offseason has been defined by big contracts. Ja’Marr Chase got paid. Myles Garrett got paid. Maxx Crosby, T.J. Watt, DK Metcalf, Brock Purdy, the list goes on.
But for whatever reason, three stars haven’t gotten deals yet: Trey Hendrickson of the Bengals, Micah Parsons of the Cowboys and Terry McLaurin of the Commanders.
They’re all part of the same odd contract situation, with the two pass rushers the easiest to break down together since they play the same position.
One NFL trend is that the next guy always gets the record contract. Crosby set a record by signing first this offseason. Garrett signed next and broke it. And Watt signed next and broke the annual average value record for a defensive player, again.
Maybe Hendrickson wasn’t going to set the record himself, but it was fair for him to expect to be in the Nick Bosa and Crosby ballpark. The contracts that come before set the market.
For whatever reason, the Bengals have decided not to match the market.
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It appears the same is true with Parsons. He 100% fits the bill of the guy who will automatically be given the new record-setting deal when he signs his extension.
He’s younger than any of the other defensive ends that signed big deals this offseason. Parsons has the longest future and would be paid accordingly.
Apparently, the Cowboys didn’t want to pay him that much, or Parsons and his agent played hard to get, or some combination of that.
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It’s odd whenever a team doesn’t pay its star, because the NFL creates so many mechanisms to move money around.
The salary cap exists, yes, but it almost never hampers teams in their efforts to pay their best players. They cut lesser players at less important positions to make room.
These edge rushers play one of the premium spots in the NFL. They’re the guys that normally get the money, as this offseason has proven.
But the Cowboys and Bengals have decided otherwise. Both defenses could be hampered for the foreseeable future if they don’t get deals done. It’s a weird, pretty much inexplicable situation.
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