Cowboys star Micah Parsons’s reaction to a quote by Bills general manager Brandon Beane had some fans speculating that he was taking a subtle shot at his own quarterback: Dak Prescott.
After his team was dominated at home by the Bengals, 27–10, Beane took a shot at Cincinnati for the struggles the team had before the turnaround that the team experienced in 2021.
“They have a good team. They, right now, are on the advantage of a rookie quarterback contract. They had some lean years and, without getting too much into their build, I don’t want to suck bad enough to have to get Ja’Marr Chase,” Beane said. “He’s a heck of a talent, I’d love to have him. But you’ve got to go through some lean years to do that.
“Those guys are on their rookie deals. We’re paying Stefon Diggs a pretty hefty number. We’re paying Josh Allen a pretty hefty number. So, there [are] the constraints of the cap, but they have a really good team. They’ve got some good young players. We’re gonna try to get as many good players as we can through the draft and through free agency. But, again, our cap situation is a little different.”
The team-building strategy of shooting for a Super Bowl during a star quarterback’s rookie deal is nothing new, with Russell Wilson and the Seahawks winning Super Bowl XLVIII and Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs winning Super Bowl LIV in the last decade. In response to a clip of Beane’s quote, Parsons pointed out that the Bengals are far from the only team making a run early in their quarterback’s career, free of the constraints of a big-money quarterback.
“Besides Mahomes, every team in the final 4 Qb is on a rookie deal and surrounded by talent!” Parsons tweeted. “Mhmm interesting take!”
The Bengals’ Joe Burrow and Eagles’ Jalen Hurts are both on rookie deals. The 49ers’ Week 1 starter Trey Lance and current starter Brock Purdy are both on rookie contracts, while Jimmy Garoppolo has a reasonable $7 million deal for 2022–23. Another team that bowed out over the weekend with a big-money contract, however, is Parsons’ Cowboys, who have Prescott on a four-year, $160 million deal.
While some fans on Twitter tried to connect the dots with Parsons’s tweet, he made sure to follow up to say that he wasn’t talking about Prescott at all.
“Listen we not gonna sit here like I’m talking about Dak 😂😂😂,” Parsons tweeted. “S— when I get paid ima want a big contract too ! Come on stop reaching ! 😂.”
After taking quarterback Joe Burrow with the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL draft, Cincinnati went 4-11-1, setting them up to draft Chase with the No. 5 pick the following year. The pair of former LSU stars picked up right where they left off in college—where they won a national championship—and led the team to a Super Bowl appearance last year. Now, an AFC championship game against the Chiefs is the only thing standing between Cincinnati and a second straight shot at a championship.
Of course, Joe Burrow is one of the quarterbacks that are due to land a top-of-market deal this offseason, so the Bengals front office will soon find itself in the same situation as the Cowboys and Bills.
