Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence feud speaks to possible deeper issues in Dallas

Thursday's unexpected Twitter tussle between Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence apparently wasn't completely unexpected by those who cover the team. Some have said in the aftermath of the skirmish that trouble has been brewing between the two.

Which raises some questions.

At the core, it seems possible — it not likely — that one or more veteran Cowboys developed resentment for Parsons not long after he joined the team. He may have rubbed some, like Lawrence, the wrong way. And that feeling may have lingered between these teammates until the point at which they were no longer teammates.

And then, boom, on Lawrence's official first day as a Seahawk, it hit the fan.

It didn't help that Lawrence took a shot at the Cowboys, even if he's stating the obvious about whether he ever would have won a Super Bowl in Dallas.

Here's the deeper question. Is the Parsons-Lawrence dynamic an exception? Are there other players with whom Parsons would have beef, and vice versa, if/when those players become former Cowboys? Or if (unlikely, but possible) Parsons becomes a former Cowboy?

When it comes to great players, organizations should and usually do put up with anything/everything that would cause consternation or distraction if it came from a lesser performer. That doesn't mean he'll be beloved in the locker room. Last year, Cowboys safety Malik Hooker publicly questioned Parsons’s podcast habit. Parsons took to social media to voice his objection to Hooker's words.

Parsons arrived as a hotshot rookie in 2021. Did something happen to create turmoil? Did the vets not like the way he carried himself? Was it a failure to know his place, at least at first? A lack of sufficient self-awareness as to how new guys should behave?

That's part of the basic dynamics of an NFL locker room, and it's ultimately up to the head coach to smooth over anything that can get in the way of the ultimate goal of winning.

Whatever the solution (it usually includes sending clear messages to one or more players about how things will be), the roots of Parsons vs. Lawrence were permitted to fester and quietly grow. Now that Lawrence is gone, the mutual issues between the two players have bubbled over.

Here's the question for the Cowboys: Was Lawrence the only one, or is he simply the first?

Or, given the things Hooker said last year, the second?