NFL Trade: Breaking Down the Dallas Cowboys After Micah Parsons’ Trade from The Star to Green Bay Packers

Micah Parsons on the Dallas Cowboys sideline. Photo credit: Richard W. Rodriguez, Associated Press.

Cover photo: Jerry Jones and Micah Parsons prior to a Dallas Cowboys game. Photo credit: Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images.

In 1989, Jerry Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys for $150 million from Harvey Roberts “Bum” Bright. As of December 2024, the Cowboys’ franchise was worth $10.1 billion, the highest valuation in all of professional sports. The Gambler won. 

After Jones took over in ‘89, he fired Tom Landry and hired his old University of Arkansas buddy and University of Miami national championship winning head coach Jimmy Johnson.

“We must win. We will win. Win is the name of the game,” said Jones in 1989 at his first press conference as Cowboy owner. A touch of swagger and confidence.

October 12, 1989, the Cowboys traded their star running back Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings in an all-time heist that yielded the Cowboys three first-round draft picks and three second-round picks. Those picks turned into notably Emmitt Smith, Darren Woodson, and Russell Maryland. The Cowboys had gone 1-15 in 1989. They drafted Michael Irvin in 1988, Troy Aikman in 1989, Smith in 1990, Maryland in 1991, and Woodson in 1992. The Cowboys won Super Bowls XXVII, XXVIII, and XXX. The Gambler won. 

In August of 1992, prior to the first Super Bowl, Jones worked a deal with the San Francisco 49ers to trade for star defensive end Charles Haley. Prior to the third Super Bowl (‘96), Jones in the summer of ‘95 signed superstar cornerback Deion Sanders to a seven-year, $35 million contract, prying the all-world cover man from the rival San Francisco 49ers. The Gambler won.

In 2021, the Cowboys drafted Micah Parsons twelfth overall. Parsons won the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, has been to the Pro Bowl each season of his career, three times has been All-Pro, and with 52.5 career sacks has joined Reggie White as the only other player in NFL history to record at least 12 sacks in their first four seasons in the NFL. 

In December, Parsons said that he wanted to be a Cowboy for life. Parsons was a “hold in” for 2025’s training camp, at practice but not participating. In March, Jones offered Parsons a five-year, $202.5 million contract. On August 1, Parsons said that he no longer wanted to be a Dallas Cowboy. That same day, he also demanded a trade. 

Jones, dealing directly with Parsons and not Parsons’ agent David Mulugheta, all along remained steadfast in his confidence that a deal to keep Parsons in Big D would get done. Parsons after all was the Cowboys’ best player, one of the top pass rushers in the NFL, one of its highest impact players. 

On Thursday, August 28, news that reverberated throughout Dallas-Fort Worth and beyond sent shockwaves east and west - the Cowboys had dealt Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first-round picks (‘26, ‘27). 

This time, The Gambler lost. 

The term “generational talent” is overused and oversaturated in sports vernacular today. But if Micah Parsons isn’t one of those, he’s pretty close. 

As said, he and White (second all-time in sacks at 198), are the only players with at least 12 in their first four seasons. Parsons can rush from the inside and he can rush from the outside. He is an effective linebacker as well. Not since DeMarcus Ware and his 138.5 career sacks (13th all-time) from 2005-2013 had the Cowboys had an expert-level pass rusher. Parsons, Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt, Cleveland’s Myles Garrett, Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson, and Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson are just a few of the NFL’s premier pass rushers.

In Parsons’ rookie season, the Cowboys’ defense gave up 21.1 points per game. In 2022, the unit gave up 20.1. The defense surrendered 18.5 points per game in 2023 and a putrid 27.5 in 2024. Only on four occasions in 2024 did the defense hold opponents to less than 20 points. The New York Giants (3-14) and Carolina Panthers (5-12) made up two of those teams. 

Parsons played in 13 games in 2024. During this summer’s preseason, he was seen at AT&T Stadium against the Atlanta Falcons on August 22 lying on the training table. Wearing no visible Cowboys’ gear. He made reference to a back injury, but MRI results came back clean. He boarded a flight on Thursday at DFW Airport, with reports that he was going to get a second opinion on the back. 

All of that is gone now, the, if you want to term it as such, “drama” of the situation, the distraction of having one your best players holdout, or “hold-in” as Parsons did in still being at practice.

The issue with the drama or distraction (or both) being gone is that your best player is also gone. Micah Parsons was supposed to be a career Cowboy, a cornerstone that was to help try and deliver the coveted sixth Lombardi trophy that the franchise has been thirsting for since 1996. Or at least a piece that helped lead them to an NFC Championship, where the franchise also hasn’t been since 1996. 

Kenny Clark, the 6 foot 3 inch, 314-pound nose tackle that the Cowboys got in return for Parsons, is 29 years old, a 3-time pro bowler (2019, 2021, 2023) that two seasons ago had seven sacks. This past season, he played 17 games with a bad foot, an injury for which he underwent surgery for in January. 

Clark will help a Cowboys defensive front that has been allergic to stopping the run in recent years. Teams routinely can trust their running backs and offensive line with success against the generous run defense. Clark will now help there in the middle for the Cowboys. 

As far as a 2025 pass rush, new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus will depend on Dante Fowler, Sam Williams, and Donovan Ezeiruaku for pressure. Fowler posted 10.5 sacks with the Washington Commanders in 2024. Williams posted 4.0 sacks as a rookie in 2022 and 4.5 in 2023 before missing all of last season because of a torn ACL and MCL suffered in training camp. Ezeiruaku, formerly of Boston College, registered an NCAA-leading 16.5 sacks in 2024 and because of his production was ACC Player of the Year and a 1st team All-American. If the Cowboys will have success rushing the passer in 2025, it will be by committee. 

The Cowboys’ defense going forward for years to come will (hopefully) be led by DeMarvion Overshown, a dynamic playmaker out of Texas drafted in 2022. Overshown has great speed and instincts and is a playmaker. The issue is that Overshown will be out a minimum of four games to start the 2025 season after a torn ACL, MCL, and PCL suffered in November. 

A pass rush that will need to be a combined effort. Your franchise defensive cornerstone who was an upset “hold in” is now elated to be gone to Green Bay. In his press conference addressing the trade on Thursday night, Jones hinted that the Cowboys could use their draft assets acquired in the trade to make another deal for an impact player. In terms of free agents, there is still Stephon Gilmore waiting patiently for a team to sign him. Gilmore, who turns 35 years old on September 19, played the 2023 season with the Cowboys. He could help a thin secondary.

On a bright note, the Cowboys could use the improved cap space ($42 million presently, second to the New England Patriots’ $52 million) to re-sign their newly acquired 24-year-old receiver George Pickens, who along with CeeDee Lamb (the Cowboys’ new best player) will provide opposing secondaries with issues. There is also 24-year-old two-time pro bowl guard Tyler Smith and 2023 all-pro corner Daron Bland who could also be re-upped with the saved money. Pickens and Bland are free after this upcoming season while Smith’s contract is up at the end of 2026. 

The Cowboys and their fans could use all of that. Matter of fact, they need all of that. Because, this time, The Gambler lost.