ARLINGTON, Texas — Ahead of a pivotal offseason for the Dallas Cowboys, three-time All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons continues to pile up bargaining power. 

Parsons told CBS Sports on Thursday that he’s aiming to re-sign with the team before free agency kicks off in March, and he and his representation have another bargaining chip to play. With his strip-sack of Tampa Bay Buccaneers Pro Bowl quarterback Baker Mayfield in the third quarter on Sunday night, he now has 50.0 career sacks. That makes him only the sixth NFL player since 1982, when sacks became an officially tracked statistic, to have 50.0 in the first four seasons played of his NFL career. Parsons is in an exclusive club that includes four Hall of Famers — Reggie White, Derrick Thomas, DeMarcus Ware and Dwight Freeney — and a future Hall of Famer in three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year JJ Watt.  

“That’s some legendary stuff man,” Parsons said postgame. “That’s the halfway mark of the end goal, you know what I’m saying? We want to get to 100 career [sacks]. We eventually want to get to that Hall of Fame status. I just did half of what they accomplished. That’s not good enough, so we got to keep going, keep stacking these years. The bar is already high, so I just got to keep going.” 

Most sacks, first 4 seasons played 
Since 1982 

* Sacks became an officially tracked individual statistic in 1982

With two games left in 2024, Parsons could easily climb up a few more spots on this leaderboard before the Cowboys’ offseason begins.