Pick whatever word you need to describe what you felt the moment you heard or read “The Dallas Cowboys have traded Micah Parsons,” because any of those words, and a few four-letter words, work fine. Absolutely stunning that the Cowboys traded their best player exactly one week before the season begins. It really happened.
Shock
I was mowing my yard on Thursday afternoon, listening to America’s favorite sports talk radio station, 1310 The Ticket, when The Hardline broke in with the news of the trade. I almost mowed my leg off. Disbelief
This one’s simple. Even on Friday morning, I still can’t believe it. Angst
The Cowboys traded one of the best three defensive players in football, a fifth-year player who had back-to-back seasons finishing second in the Defensive Player of the Year voting, and all they got back was two first-round picks and Kenny Clark?!Horror
And to round it out, on top of everything else, there’s the fact that Jerry Jones dealt Parsons to an NFC rival, a good team looking to make a Super Bowl push, who completely annihilated you the last time you made the playoffs, and will return to play against you in just a few weeks. "This will go down as one of the worst trades in the history of [the Dallas Cowboys] organization."@danorlovsky7 shares his thoughts on the Cowboys trading Micah Parsons to the Packers 👀 pic.twitter.com/yp4kHfomez
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) August 29, 2025
And hey, while we’re at it, let's go through all those stages again, all at once, by recognizing that the two first-round picks the Cowboys are getting in return will most likely be somewhere between picks 24-32, where teams typically draft players they might not even have graded as a first-rounder. Take three of the Cowboys' last four picks at 24 or later in the first round: the very disappointing Tyler Guyton, Mazi Smith and Taco Charlton. How very exciting! What a deal!
Green Bay not only decided Parsons was worth their (probably) late first-round picks, but they also believed he was immediately worth investing in by making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, with an average annual value of $47 million, and $136 million in guaranteed money. Incredible. The Packers saw an opportunity to add a game-changing talent and, boy, did they take it. On the other hand, here at home, the Cowboys saw an opportunity for Jones to throw the double bird at his best player and, boy, did he take it. Things certainly got personal.
Jones didn’t like that Parsons wouldn’t sign a contract extension for the amount he says they agreed to in a casual conversation in March. Jones apparently wouldn’t contact Parsons’ agent, which is beyond odd, even for him. The Cowboys, who have invested heavily in Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, now have an offense with a shaky and unproven offensive line blocking for an underwhelming running back group and hoping Prescott and Lamb can single-handedly win games, while also hoping that the eccentric, newly added receiver George Pickens decides he wants to actually put forth a real effort.
Remember, the team also saw the departure of star edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence to free agency, so now, the defense no longer has a player for other teams to fear. They no longer have a player who will be constantly double- or triple-teamed. Of course, all of this is happening for a first-time head coach.
What are we doing?
Moving Forward
Look, I didn’t have high hopes for the Cowboys, even with Parsons. Las Vegas had them at 7.5 for their over/under win total. I absolutely now feel quite confident in taking the under if it hasn’t changed drastically by the time you read this. Moving forward, Dallas has some options at the edge to rush the passer. They did sign Dante Fowler Jr., who had 10.5 sacks last year for Washington, and Sam Williams is coming off a torn ACL and a year out, and has at least some potential. This year’s second-round pick was Donovan Ezeiruaku, for whom there are only good things being said about coming out of training camp. Marshawn Kneeland flashed last year as a rookie, but had exactly zero sacks. James Houston made the team this week. He had eight sacks as a rookie in 2022 for Detroit, so that’s not nothing. The four non-Fowler players have a combined 17.5 career sacks in 63 career games. Micah Parsons has 52.5 sacks in 63 career games. One of those things is not like the others. For the crowd saying you can’t pay Micah a big contract while other Cowboys are also on mammoth deals and be successful, Green Bay would disagree with you. They pay their QB $55 million a year, their right tackle gets $22 million a year and their top defensive lineman makes $24 million a year. The Packers’ two starting guards combine to make over $36 million a year. Their six highest-paid players now command $184 million a year on average.
The Cowboys now have four players making over $20 million a year: Prescott, Lamb, Osa Odighizuwa, and the newly acquired Clark. Two of their top four highest-paid players are in the defensive middle, designed to stop the run. Their next two highest-paid players are Trevon Diggs and Terrence Steele. Call me skeptical, but no one is game planning to avoid either of those two. Dallas’ six highest-paid players now command $171 million a year.
Will this start a wave of resigning other talent that signing Parsons would’ve made difficult? Perhaps. Tyler Smith, DaRon Bland, George Pickens and Sam Williams are players Jones might want to keep around that paying Micah $47 million a year would’ve possibly prevented. But these are the Dallas Cowboys, why make anything easy?
Why look at the Baltimore Ravens signing Kyle Hamilton to a record deal for a safety after only three years? The Ravens are the popular pick to win the Super Bowl. It’s just one example out of many of the way other, better teams do it in the NFL. Instead, the Cowboys move on from their best player. Why not? As Jones said in the recently released Netflix series on the team, “the Dallas Cowboys are a soap opera 365 days a year.”
Forbes just valued the Cowboys at $13 billion, making them the most valuable sports franchise on Earth. If you’re Jones, why change what’s working in the only way you truly seem to want it to? They’ve won multiple Most Valuable Franchise titles, while not coming anywhere near winning a title in three decades. Maybe Dallas will unveil that championship banner at the 2025 home opener, because the other banners up there have gotten dusty. January 28, 1996. If you were born after that, you’ve never been alive for a Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl or NFC Championship Game. After this Micah Parsons trade, I’m sorry to tell you, you’re gonna be waiting even longer. Get used to dealing with the grief.
