Why Have These Three Elite Defensive Linemen Not Gotten New Contracts?

Every year, players and NFL teams have contract disputes that tend to boil over through training camp and sometimes even the regular season. When players and team executives disagree on new contracts, it can get ugly, leading to holdouts and hold-ins that make both sides look bad. A player's holdout means that they abstain from team activities—mandatory or not—which puts the team in a tough spot to rely on a backup to replace the production. A hold-in is when players report to mandatory activities in order not to get fined, but don’t participate in team activities. Notable holdouts in recent years include: Kam Chancellor, Chris Jones, and Le’Veon Bell, who missed the entire 2018 season due to his holdout. With the regular season quickly approaching, many players are still negotiating for new contracts, which we’ll address in this article.

Micah Parsons

The biggest story of the offseason going into the regular season is Micah Parsons’ contract dispute with Jerry Jones. Of course, it’s been made far worse by Jones airing comments like “he was hurt six games last year” and urging fans not to “lose any sleep over this.” It’s far from the first time that the Cowboys owner has dealt with drawn-out contract talks since the last two years have seen CeeDee Lamb and Zack Martin abstain from offseason activities. The Cowboys signed Lamb to a four-year, $136 million extension two days after their final preseason game and also restructured Martin’s deal in August the year before. Now comes this saga with Parsons, who has proved that he deserves a new deal by earning three All-Pro selections—twice on the first team and once on the second team—as well as three top-three Defensive Player of the Year finishes. It’s been two weeks since the premier pass rusher requested a trade and made his voice heard on social media, and it was even reported that Parsons hadn’t spoken with Jones since his request. Despite this huge distraction, Jones has maintained that the team won’t be trading Parsons, but as far as the public knows, the two sides are still at a standstill.

Trey Hendrickson

From one owner who’s been criticized about paying players to another, we present to you: Mike Brown. After years of being considered one of the cheapest owners in the league, Brown’s team has become one of the best in the NFL, leading to an appearance in Super Bowl LVI as well as back-to-back AFC Championship appearances in 2022 and 2023. The team gave Joe Burrow a big contract extension in 2023—making him the highest-paid player in the NFL at the time—but has since made headlines due to their reluctance to pay other star players. After Burrow’s extension, he was making more money per season than the next four highest-paid Bengals players combined, and even Joe Mixon took a pay cut for his last season in Cincinnati. Last season, the team made headlines for refusing to extend Ja’Marr Chase, exercising his fifth-year option, and forcing him to play the entire season after already proving himself as a top-five wide receiver. Eventually, the Bengals signed both Chase and Tee Higgins to contract extensions, but now Trey Hendrickson is dealing with the same issues as his teammates. Hendrickson is reportedly seeking a long-term deal with more guaranteed money—his eight million dollars in guarantees is the lowest amount out of the top-33 highest-paid edge rushers—and with the Bengals refusing to re-sign him, he requested a trade in early March and has been holding in since July 30th.

Cameron Heyward

In a unique circumstance, Cameron Heyward is looking for a new contract less than a full calendar year since he signed his last extension. Last September, he agreed to terms on a two-year, $29 million contract, which makes him the 22nd-highest paid player at his position. According to Heyward, when he signed his extension, he told the Steelers that he’d look for a new deal if he made the All-Pro team. The timeline to his extension makes Heyward’s argument valid since he suffered a groin injury in 2023 that he didn’t fully recover from, and then went into negotiations with the Steelers, allegedly requesting him to take a pay cut. With Heyward being a leader in the locker room and exemplifying the “Steeler Way,” Heyward, as well as many Steeler fans, are surely hoping his contract gets re-worked as soon as possible.