Cowboys' Jerry Jones explains invisible 'agreement' with Micah Parsons

Jerry Jones is old-school. But in the latest bizarre twist to the Micah Parsons saga, the 82-year-old Dallas Cowboys owner would have you believe he was born before the inventions of ink pens and paper.

When discussing the star pass-rusher's contract dispute this week in Oxnard, California, Jones told reporters he thought a "deal was done" last March after a conversation with Parsons. When pressed for details, however, Jerry admitted nothing was drawn up as far as a contract.

Jones now wants us to believe that intangible agreements - a handshake, a nod, even a wink - are somehow legal and binding.

"I bought the Dallas Cowboys with a handshake," Jones said. "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."

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones speaks at training camp opening ceremonies at the River Ridge Fields. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Making $140 million decisions (that's what Jones paid for the Cowboys and Texas Stadium in 1989) based on a coin flip seems odd, bordering on insane. But he's turned that investment into a franchise valued at more than $10 billion, so he's made more than a couple of decent choices along the way.

He also admits, thankfully, that a signed document is needed to finalize a contract. Therefore, Parsons is sitting out training practices and requesting a trade.

"Just so you understand the way that I communicate with people that a I negotiate with. Let's leave it at that," Jerry continued. "There's is 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."

To Jones' point, Parsons is under contract. Nothing old-school about that.

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