Cowboys’ Micah Parsons calls loss of Mike McCarthy ‘devastating’; prepares for a “difficult” offseason

Micah Parsons, three-time All-Pro edge player for the Dallas Cowboys, and team owner Jerry Jones had a one-on-one conversation at the Cotton Bowl on Friday in Jones’ suite to discuss the future in Dallas, including Parsons’ impending contract extension.

However, Jones and Parsons clearly disagreed on the viability of Mike McCarthy’s future as Cowboys head coach. Jones parted ways with McCarthy on Mondayand Parsons called Dallas’ decision to leave McCarthy “devastating.”

“He’s a very, very interesting man. Obviously, very sad because of the relationship we had with Coach McCarthy and everything he did for our program: three straight 12-5 seasons, appearances in the playoffs and obviously an unhappy year with injuries and things like that (in 2024), but it’s devastating,” Parsons said Tuesday on his “The Edge with Micah Parsons” podcast. “Coach Mike is a great father, coach. One of the winningest coaches (174 wins, 13th all time), and you know he’s always been good to us.”

Even though Parsons clearly has a fundamental disagreement with Jones about parting ways with the head coach who drafted him 12th overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, he remains a believer in the Cowboys brain trust. It’s a sentiment that’s not popular among the team’s fans on social media these days.

“Losing a great coach like Mike hurts, but it’s going to be a very interesting offseason. It’s going to be very interesting. Thanks to the free agents, the coaching, it’s going to be a complete reset. It’s going to be a very interesting and challenging time out. season, but listen, I already know I trust my owner I trust my general manager I trust Will McClay (vice president of player personnel). .

The Cowboys will obviously make a coaching decision before coming to terms with Parsons on his second contract, which is why the All-Pro Edge Rusher is on the edge of his seat to see who his next head coach and defensive coordinator will be . He started his career playing primarily as an inside linebacker before lining up much more frequently along the defensive line. Parsons’ 52.5 career sacks are the fifth-most in a player’s first four seasons since sacks began being tracked as an individual stat in 1982. Regardless of who the Cowboys decided to hire, he knows the first year of adjusting to a new coaching staff will “be a challenge.”

“We don’t know who gets what,” Parsons said of the Cowboys coaching search. “There’s been a lot of speculation. Former players have mentioned: Prime Time (Deion Sanders), (Jason) Witten. But at the end of the day, speculation is speculation. We’ll wait and see who gets hired, who’s going to be our DC, our OC, because this is going to be a complete reset. It’s going to be very interesting to see how these guys envision the players and who they want to bring in, who they want to build around. …. It’s going to be a challenge…. There’s no safety in this league, it’s the dangerous part of the NFL, in most cases, other than Tomlin, the Shanahans, the McVays… When you’re in programs and those The coaches draft you and have an idea of ​​where they want you to fit in and how they want you to play, and when they’re all out, it’s kind of like you’re SOL. . You’ve seen a bunch of (Dan Les Quinn guys are traveling with him I can only imagine a group of guys are going to follow McCarthy… It’s going to be very interesting. »