What happens when the most dominant defender on the roster feels alienated while the depth gets thinner by the day? “I don’t think they like each other,” Dan Orlovsky said this week about Micah Parsons and Jerry Jones‘ deteriorating relationship. And it’s just something that’s harder to fix. Sure, the Cowboys absorbed a 31-21 preseason loss to the Rams with most stars in bubble wrap. But here’s the thing: no one’s whispering about the scheme or the preseason litmus test. The chatter’s around trust, tone, and time.
Here’s the context that’s keeping Cowboys fans on edge. The offense is stuck searching for answers at RB while big-money decisions loom over the franchise player on defense. The Athletic’s latest camp read paints a backfield in limbo. Miles Sanders’ the latest one to succumb to the injury woe. Rookie Jaydon Blue dinged twice in a week, and no one is seizing RB1.
Meanwhile, Javonte Williams logs the most first-team work, which has forced Dallas into contingency mode rather than clarity as roster cutdowns near. Layer that onto a conservative preseason plan that kept Tyler Booker, Cooper Beebe, and other would-be anchors out against the Rams, and it’s fair to ask how much of this is by design and how much is necessity as injuries and evaluations stack up.
Orlovsky didn’t mince words about the Micah Parsons stalemate, framing it less as cap chess and more as a relationship fracture between star and ownership. “It’s gotten personal,” he said. Dan further added that a perceived “personal dislike” is now attached to more than just guarantees or AAV. Plus, he has sent out the warning that Dallas has “zero chance without Micah Parsons” if the rift lingers into real football. That lands differently when the defense’s soft spots, namely interior DL and CB depth, were exposed early in the preseason opener.
And then, you have the local voices wondering aloud if Jerry Jones needs to add reinforcements before Week 1. The message behind the message: a roster already leaning on Micah’s gravity can’t afford emotional drift from its gravitational center. On Get Up, Orlovsky pressed the core question out loud, “Do they want to sign Micah Parsons?” before answering himself: “I don’t think they like him… They don’t like him. And it’s a personal dislike… that isn’t attached to just money.”
“I don’t think they like each other.”
—@danorlovsky7 on Micah Parsons and the Cowboys pic.twitter.com/tfzmExZCrL
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) August 11, 2025
If that’s the temperature in August, the downstream effect is obvious. Every ambiguous presser about timelines or spending reads like another flare in a negotiation that’s spilling into culture, and every missed practice or limited rep feels heavier than it should for an edge rusher who shapes coverages, pass-pro plans, and game scripts all by himself. When the front seven’s soft middle needs shoring up and the corner room is waiting on health and a veteran addition, the one player who erases mistakes can’t also be the one questioning the mission.
Meanwhile, the offense isn’t insulated from the tension. The RB room lacks a clean hierarchy. Sanders’ knee has limited him. Blue’s bone bruise/ankle detour wiped out a key window for first-team reps… And even with Williams leading the starter snaps, The Athletic’s view is blunt. They report: “no one has come close to running away with the No. 1 job,” with Phil Mafah flashing more since the pads came on. But he is not resetting the depth chart. Sure, Brian Schottenheimer raved about Malik Davis: “I can’t say enough… It was great to see him. His run skills are incredible.” But let him get to a full practice week. And that’d be before facing the Raiders in Dallas.
This isn’t panic. But it’s not certainty either. Plus, it bleeds into how Brian Schottenheimer manages preseason workloads after a night where LA outgained Dallas by 160-1 in the first quarter and then, they disciplined the America’s Team with the twos and threes on the field. The plan to stagger debuts — “specific plan… rotation we wanted to get this week” — tracks. But so does the urgency to find answers before the opener.
Locker room setbacks and Micah Parsons tension
There’s also the optics battle, never small in Dallas. Sitting the first-round guard Tyler Booker, limiting veteran pillars, and absorbing a sloppy start invite second-guessing. Even if the staff insists Week 2 of preseason will look “a little bit different” with a broader pitch count and more first-team exposure. That’s all fine in a vacuum. It’s not fine if the locker room reads the Parsons stalemate as a values statement, and it becomes combustible if the defense starts September asking Micah to cover two problems at once. The A-gap and the atmosphere.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – DECEMBER 29: Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons 11 looks on during the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys on December 29, 2024 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA.Photo by Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire NFL, American Football Herren, USA DEC 29 Cowboys at Eagles EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon241229044
The RB carousel matters beyond fantasy blurbs. It affects how Dallas protects Dak Prescott, uses 12 personnel, and marries protections to shot plays when CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens stress the seams. In preseason opener context, Schotty’s conservative approach explains part of the disjointed start. But it doesn’t change the evaluation clock that’s ticking on who gets the hurry-up reps and who can pass-pro on third-and-7 when defenses heat the pocket.
If there’s a silver sliver, it’s that Dallas treated the opener like a controlled scrimmage and kept the core out, prioritizing health and information over exhibition rhythm. However, the post-LA game reports flagging RB uncertainty, pointed to stress at DT and CB. As reported by CowboysWire ahead of the game, Stephen Jones admitted what Cowboys fans already knew. Dallas still has glaring holes at cornerback and defensive tackle. Injuries have gutted CB depth behind DaRon Bland and Kaiir Elam, while DT remains weak beyond Osa Odighizuwa, with Mazi Smith struggling in camp.
That’s where it’s all going south for Dallas. The Jones’ face a familiar paradox. Build for the future while chasing a window that may not stay open. Especially if the Micah issue drags on past its expiration date in a building that demands January football. In the locker room, that belief shows up in money, message, and moves. Dallas can still pull it together, but the clock is loud, and every unresolved rep makes it louder.
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