![\"Micah](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Micah-Parsons-e1776556196522.jpg\")
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Micah Parsons has set the market for defensive stars. <\/p>\n
Former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons has started a trend<\/a>, and it\u2019s growing.<\/p>\n Houston Texans<\/a> defensive end Will Anderson Jr.\u2019s record contract extension as the highest-paid non-quarterback ever pleased Parsons. Now a linebacker with the Green Bay Packers<\/a>, Parsons posted \u201ccongrats brother\u201d via X in reaction to Anderson\u2019s deal on Friday.<\/p>\n Parsons previously landed a four-year, $188 million<\/a> contract extension with the Packers following the 2025 trade. Anderson passed Parsons\u2019 annual average of $46.5 million with $50 million a year in his three-year, $150 million<\/a> deal with the Texans.<\/p>\n Those annual numbers equate to starting quarterback salaries. Both are ahead of some of the better starters in the league, such as the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>\u2018 Patrick Mahomes and the Los Angeles Rams\u2019 Matthew Stafford.<\/p>\n It could also mean more defensive stars or non-quarterback offensive stars will come calling for large deals sooner than later. Cleveland Browns<\/a> star defensive end Myles Garrett could be one of them amid trade speculation.<\/p>\n Micah Parsons\u2019 Absences Was Felt Hard in Dallas<\/p>\n Depending on how the following years in Dallas and Green Bay play out, the Parsons trade could live in infamy.<\/p>\n The Dallas defense took a major step back in 2025 without Parsons, and the Cowboys are tasked with making moves this offseason to fix a last-place defense. Parsons clearly merited the major money all the more in hindsight while he helped the Packers defense thrive.<\/p>\n While the Cowboys missed the playoffs, the Packers performed well as a playoff team. Green Bay could get even more out of Parsons in 2026 if he is back to full health, too.<\/p>\n Dallas, meanwhile, has quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb in their primes as stars but just lost a season of that in 2025 with a losing season. While Dallas could trade up in the NFL<\/a> Draft on April 23 in Pittsburgh, asking a rookie star, no matter how strong, to lead a defense is a tall order.<\/p>\n Owners Willing to Pay Big For Non-QBs<\/p>\n Prescott is the league\u2019s highest-paid player at $60 million annually, and there\u2019s nine more quarterbacks after him who are paid more annually than defensive stars Anderson and Parsons.<\/p>\n In 2024, Prescott signed his four-year, $240 million<\/a> contract extension, and Packers star quarterback Jordan Love ironically became the second-highest paid with a four-year $220 million deal that same year. Green Bay showed that the team can do both in terms of paying a franchise quarterback and a defensive star north of $45 million annually. Love makes $55 million yearly.<\/p>\n What teams will follow suit is the question. The Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> are paying Trevor Lawrence $55 million annually, and two-way star Travis Hunter could command that kind of money if his career develops. The Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> pay quarterback Joe Burrow $55 million annually, and wide receiver Ja\u2019Mar Chase could be a candidate for a larger deal down the road, since he is at $40.25 million annually.<\/p>\n Dallas won\u2019t likely have the scenario soon unless there\u2019s a major free agent find in 2027 in a massive trade between now and then to bring a defensive star who would command the kind of money that Parsons left The Star in Frisco for the frozen tundra.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMatthew Davis<\/a> covers the NFL, WNBA and college sports for Heavy.com. As a contributing writer to the StarTribune, he has also covered Minnesota prep sports since 2016. More about Matthew Davis<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Cowboys\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Micah Parsons has set the market for defensive stars. Former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons has started…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[230,229,257,2461,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-869755","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-cowboys","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-cowboys","11":"tag-dallascowboys","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116430418680329979","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}