Jerry Jones seems to be a firm believer that a handshake deal is as binding as any written contract.
The Dallas Cowboys owner has maintained his stance that he had reached a verbal agreement with Micah Parsons on a contract extension back in March.
On Tuesday, Jones was asked by NFL Network’s Jane Slater about the agreement not being put in writing. The 82-year-old claimed his initial acquisition of the Cowboys in 1989 started with a similar handshake deal.
“I bought the Dallas Cowboys with a handshake,” Jones said, via The Athletic’s Jon Machota. “It took about 30 seconds. I gave the number, shook hands, the details we worked out later. As a matter of fact, one of the details involved a lot of money and I had to flip a coin over that. But the fundamental, ‘I’m buying and you’re gonna sell it to me for that range,’ that’s done. And those are done with eye contact and handshake.
“Just so you understand the way that I communicate with people that I negotiate with. Let’s leave it at that. There’s no question that in the case of a player contract, you have to have it in writing. All parties do. We have a contract in writing, yet we’re still talking about renegotiating, so so much for that.”
Parsons does not deny that he talked about contract terms with Jones in March. However, the star linebacker claims that he did not believe the conversation to be a formal negotiation.
Parsons asserted in his trade request statement that he believed the conversation was going to be about team leadership before Jones shifted gears to talk about an extension. You can read more about Parsons’ side of the story here.
Amid Jones’ insistence on the handshake deal, the Cowboys owner has refused to speak to Parsons’ agent about negotiating (in his eyes, renegotiating) on a new contract.
In April, Jones claimed he didn’t even know the name of Parsons’ agent. The claim seems far-fetched given that the agent, David Mulugheta, is a veteran in the industry. His client list includes Jalen Ramsey, CJ Stroud, Jordan Love, Justin Fields, and current Cowboy Malik Hooker.
