Micah Parsons Traded to the Packers
This article was originally published on Over The Cap.
Rarely in the NFL are there stunning events. Today was one of those rare days as the Dallas Cowboys traded EDGE rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for two first round picks after months of bickering over a contract extension. Never in a million years would I have expected this to happen. The way this dragged out was basically the same as every other annual holdout/hold in we see in Dallas and every time in ends with an extension and a number of people saying “if they had just done this sooner they would have saved millions”. They certainly saved millions today but lost a superstar player in the process.
I am not sure what really drove this trade. If you were running the team and ever thought that this would be the end game, the trade should have occurred either during the draft or by the start of training camp. To have this kind of situation drag out all camp long and then right before the start of the season trade the player is kind of crazy. It sends a bad message to the other players on the team at a time they should be really locked in on getting ready for week 1. It’s demoralizing.
This whole saga feels like Jerry Jones was upset over some contracts that have gone sideways for him the last few years. Bad outcomes on contracts happen all the time. You have to ask yourself if the process of extending was bad or you just landed some bad luck with injuries. In the case of Dallas it is more the latter than the former. Parsons agency did make a few public statements this year which did poke at the Cowboys decision making. These were not made by Parson’s specific agent but they basically took a deserved victory lap for the way they manipulated the Dak Prescott negotiations to get two massive contracts for Prescott which have not been a good ROI for Dallas. Maybe that played a role here that Jones needed to get one over on the agents because it is hard to see the logic here. Jones made some comments about valuing the run which is nonsense. If that was the case they never would have drafted Parsons in the first place nor would they have engaged in extension talks.
The money Parsons will make in Green Bay is gigantic. His $47 million year extension is massive. It is a near 15% raise in annual value over TJ Watt and even prior to Watt’s contract the money at the position exploded with Myles Garrett landing a $40 million per year extension a few months ago. It is very rare to have a season with two major market movers at the same position in the same year but that is what we got with Garrett taking the market to $40 million and Parsons to $47 million.
The Packers probably view the number differently than others due to the fact they had no prior investment and see this more as a five year contract worth around $42 million a year. Others in the NFL may try to make that argument too, but from Parsons perspective it doesn’t make a difference. For him it is $47 million a year and this is the way you manipulate the numbers in a trade similar to what Khalil Mack was able to do in Chicago seven years ago.
It is far to question the Packers decision to part with two first round picks as well as a player they already paid a significant amount of salary out to but Parsons is a special player and the Packers do have a good young core that can make it easier to drop draft picks. While it may not be a home run it is a move that is meant to maximize the Packers chances the next two years and then they can deal with the fallout from the trade in 2027.
For Dallas the opposite is true. This minimizes their chances to compete now and requires some great draft picks to come out from this. Sure they saved a bunch of money but it is not like they are going to spend it on free agents in the future as Dallas generally avoids free agency like the plague. I don’t know if Dallas is a real competitor this year or not but if these two picks do not lead to Dallas drafting a good young QB next year or the year after I am not sure what the point will be. Dallas had leverages here and let it all vanish basically getting talked into a trading away a player they probably should have not traded in 2025.
