(Editor's Note: Time to check the mail! The DallasCowboys.com staff writers answer your questions here in 'Mailbag' presented by Miller Lite.)
I'm a lifelong fan through good days and bad, and I have high hopes for this season. But I have to be honest, the current rhetoric surrounding the Micah Parsons situation is concerning. This team doesn't seem unified to me. Does the general tone from players who are currently speaking out or posting on social media in support of him worry you guys as well? – Kevin Flanagan/Kearney, MO
Nick: I think you can look at it two ways. Are they guys speaking out against the team? Against Jerry and the front office? Or are they supporting their teammate? The answer could be both, but depending on how you look at it - maybe they are showing unity. What if they didn't say anything at all? Would it look like they weren't supporting Micah?
You have to consider another aspect. It seems to me that most of the guys who were the loudest about their love for Micah (Osa, Diggs, CeeDee), were guys who have already been paid. It does seem a little easier for those guys to be like that, knowing they've already got the bag.
I wouldn't say this is a normal contract situation because Micah is here, but then again, he's asked for a trade. So on one hand, it sounds pretty serious but on the other, he's actually here so he doesn't get fined. So if he doesn't want to be fined for missing practice, he's not going to miss game checks. I think this thing gets resolved in the next couple of weeks. And when that happens, it will look rather unified once again.
Kurt: To be honest, this doesn't worry me at all. In fact, having teammates come out in support of Parsons may actually be building team chemistry, an us-against-the-world mentality.
There's no rule that states the players and front office must get along in order to be successful. Many New York Yankees stars didn't have much use for George Steinbrenner back when they were a powerhouse in the 1970s. Same for the Oakland A's dynasty earlier in that same decade. Some openly hated owner Charlie Finley.
And heck, Dallas' own Tex Schramm, the team's president and general manager from 1960-88, was one of the stingiest negotiators in the history of the game. He was not well liked by many of the same players who helped the Cowboys to 20 consecutive winning seasons (1966-85) and five Super Bowls in nine years (1970-78).
So I wouldn't be too worried about the locker room chemistry right now. The players are simply rallying around a teammate, a leader, during a difficult time. And once this deal finally gets done, which I think it will, the Cowboys will be both stronger on the field and perhaps even more unified off it.
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