Micah Parsons, Myles Garrett Cast Big Shadows over NFL Combine | 4 Downs

What Happens at St Elmo's Sets the NFL Offseason in Motion

The NFL offseason is about to shift into overdrive.

Tuesday, the NFL Scouting Combine kicks off in Indianapolis, where every NFL general manager, the top executives, and coaching staffs from all 32 teams turn a convention town into Football World Headquarters for a week.

Trade proposals are scratched out on cocktail napkins and debated between linebacker short-shuttles and defensive end 40-yard dashes.

While we’re still a few weeks away from the new league year beginning on March 14, and free agency opening, illegal tampering is going to be all the rage as agents and general managers sneak off to the corners of hotel lobbies and into the mysterious shadows of Prime 47 Steakhouse to begin the work on parameters of deals to come.

Here’s a look at the storylines likely to be the driving force behind this year’s Combine.

First Down: Dallas Cowboys Can Course Correct with Micah Parsons Extension

Jerry Jones and the Cowboys are impossible to miss in Indianapolis.

Whether the Dallas Cowboys’ white motorcoach that would make Taylor Swift’s tour bus envious is parked in front of Prime 47, or the JW Marriott, or St. Elmo’s, like the Bat Signal over Gotham it’s easy to see where Jones is holding court on a given night during the NFL Combine.

This year, the most important task at hand— besides figuring out a way to draft Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty to ignite a stagnant offense around quarterback Dak Prescott, is to make sure All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons’ contract extension talks go far more smoothly than Prescott’s did last season.

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Parsons, 25, is eligible for an extension for the first time in his career since being chosen by the Cowboys No. 12 overall, out of Penn State, in the 2021 NFL Draft.

After producing 52.5 sacks through his first 63 games, the 6-foot-3 and 245-pound heat-seeking missile of a game wrecker is about to break the bank.

This is going to be both a litmus test and a pressure point for Jones and the Cowboys this offseason, especially after how Dallas allowed Joe Burrow, Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence, and Tua Tagovailoa to each reset the market before signing Prescott to a $240 million extension last September, making him the highest-paid quarterback in the league.

If the Cowboys, for some unforeseen reason, decide not to extend Parsons, he’ll collect $24 million during the 2025 season while playing on his fifth-year option. Jones needs to be way more proactive than that, here.

I spoke to several agents familiar with the pass rush market for their read on Parsons’ value and what they would walk onto Jones’ motorcoach and ask for this week.