Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wasn’t afraid to take shots at some of his players on Monday’s opening training camp press conference.

That includes Micah Parsons, who is still in negotiations with the front office for a deal expected to make him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. While answering questions from reporters about the lack of a contract extension for the star defensive end, he controversially brought up the fact the defender missed multiple games in 2024. 

“Just because we sign him doesn’t mean we are going to have him,” Jones said. “He was hurt six games last year, seriously. I remember signing a player for the highest-paid at the position for the league and he got knocked out two thirds of the year, Dak Prescott.”  

Parsons missed four games in 2025, not six, but Jones’ argument was seemingly about considering everything when “committing and guaranteeing money.” In reality, it came off as a knock on the Cowboys’ very best player. At least, we know that’s how Parsons took it. 

That’s because the defensive end reposted a message from NFL legend J.J. Watt on X which sarcastically criticized Jones’ comments: 

“Anytime you can publicly take a dig at your star quarterback and your star pass rusher simultaneously, right before the season begins, you just gotta take it…

Nothing makes guys want to fight for you more than hearing how upset you are that they got hurt while fighting for you.”

– J.J. Watt on X Twitter (formerly Twitter)

The fact that Parsons publicly shared Watt’s post is confirmation that Jones’ message didn’t go over very well. I can’t blame him.

After all, Jones has been known to use the media to negotiate and shape public perception. What we do know is that across the NFL, players of Parsons’ caliber tend to receive extensions sooner rather than later and they tend to not be knocked by ownership because they missed four games, even less so when the player played hard upon his return despite low playoff expectations, logging a 77% snap count in games in which the Cowboys were already eliminated. 

Monday’s press conference began with Jones applauding offensive lineman Tyler Smith’s comments about the team being a Super Bowl contender. It’s not exactly ideal to follow that with divisive comments aimed toward one of your biggest stars that is unlikely to practice because of contractual issues.