Packers' Micah Parsons wanted to stay with Cowboys, agent says - ESPN

Micah Parsons had never planned to sit out this season and would have played for the Dallas Cowboys in Thursday's regular-season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles, even if he had not been traded to the Green Bay Packers last week, his agent David Mulugheta told ESPN's «First Take» on Tuesday.

Mulugheta said the Cowboys were never told that Parsons would not play.

«Never,» Mulugheta said. «I mean Micah loves the game too much. He was going to play no matter what.»

In fact, Mulugheta contended that Parsons' first choice was always to remain in Dallas.

«I think the most important thing is Micah wanted to be a Cowboy,» Mulugheta said. «He grew up cheering for the Cowboys, wore the blue and white at Penn State, wore it in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys. He wanted to be a Cowboy and we did everything we could for him to remain a Cowboy.»

However, Mulugheta said the Cowboys would not negotiate with him since owner and general manager Jerry Jones believed he had reached an agreement on a deal directly with Parsons following a March 18 meeting between the two of them.

«If you're a 25-year-old football player and your boss, who happens to the most powerful person in the NFL, starts talking about contracts, it's hard for you to end that conversation,» Mulugheta said. «So they had a conversation. Micah nodded his head out of respect.

»Obviously there's a power dynamic that's a little different there. One guy's the owner of the team and the GM, and the other one is Micah Parsons, a young 25-year-old football player. So, I'm not sure if there was miscommunication there by the time Micah walked out, but at no point did Micah believe that he was negotiating a contract."

Jones has contended otherwise and believes he had a handshake