J.J. Watt Sends Clear Warning to Every NFL Team Amid Cowboys, Micah Parsons Drama

J.J. Watt Sends Clear Warning to Every NFL Team Amid Cowboys, Micah Parsons Drama originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The Dallas Cowboys are gearing up for an interesting 2025 season, where they look to improve on their 7-10 record from last year, when they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

However, they're facing some major drama early on when it comes to EDGE Micah Parsons, as the two have been negotiating a contract extension, with Calvin Watkins of The Dallas Morning News suggesting the total value could be over $200 million.

That may never happen, though, because on Friday, things reached a boiling point as Parsons announced via a social media post he's requesting a trade, saying, "I no longer want to be here."

J.J. Watt Uses This as a Teaching Lesson

The development caught the football world by surprise, and former defensive end and current CBS Sports analyst J.J. Watt used it as an opportunity to send some advice to every NFL team on how to avoid exactly this.

"Take care of your best players early," Watt said via an X post. "Saves money. Saves headaches. The longer you wait, the higher the price."

Take care of your best players early.

Saves money.
Saves headaches.

The longer you wait, the higher the price.

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) August 1, 2025

Of course, that seems like a simple fix, but something the Cowboys obviously could have utilized much earlier now that they're in jeopardy of losing a four-time Pro Bowler and two-time First-Team All-Pro selection.

Watt Has Previously Called out the Cowboys

This isn't the first time that Watt has gotten involved in some of the drama surrounding Parsons and the Cowboys. He previously spoke out after owner Jerry Jones took a shot at the EDGE by pointing out he missed time in 2024 due to injury.

Watt revealed his opinion on Jones' words, saying, "Anytime you can publicly take a dig at your star quarterback and your star pass rusher simultaneously, right before the season begins, you just gotta take it. … Nothing makes guys want to fight for you more than hearing how upset you are that they got hurt while fighting for you."

Even Parsons went on to recognize the unnecessary comment from Jones, saying in his trade request announcement, "I no longer want shots taken at me for getting injured while laying it on the line for the organization our fans and my teammates."

What Would the Cowboys Defense Look Like Without Parsons?

Last year, the Cowboys proved to have one of the NFL's most effective pass rush units, ranking third in sacks (52), tied for second in pressures (180), 13th in quarterback knockdowns (54) and first in hurries (74).

In total, Parsons accounted for a big chunk of those numbers, as he racked up 12 sacks, 46 pressures, 12 quarterback knockdowns and 21 hurries, which is even more impressive considering he played in just 13 games.

Removing that kind of production would obviously be a huge loss for Dallas and something the organization could soon be dealing with.

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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 1, 2025, where it first appeared.