By trading Micah Parsons, Jerry Jones reminds us what the Cowboys are about

Hyperbole. Prisoner of the moment. Whatever one would call it — and there is some element of truth to both, Micah Parsons’ shocking but none-too-surprising-in-retrospect trade somehow cuts deeper than the infamous “Dez Catch.”

That’s because it’s difficult not to surmise Dallas Cowboys owner, president and general manager Jerry Jones didn’t get exactly what he wanted. Yes, Thursday’s trade of Parsons – the perennial All-Pro edge rusher – to the Green Bay Packers was nothing short of a blockbuster.

Yes, Parsons finally got the deal he was searching for months: a massive four-year, $188 million contract with $120 million guaranteed.

Yes, that now means what he wanted in Dallas, Green Bay was more than willing to provide in making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.

And, yes, Jones’ reasoning Thursday evening for the trade did little to quell the outrage among the Cowboys’ massive championship-starved fanbase, NFL personnel and critics alike.

In music, the concept of “song of the summer” has been a topic of discourse for the past several years, with the question of whether it still exists. In sports, it’s neither a conundrum nor a debate. Jones is sports’ inescapable song of the summer for all the wrong reasons to anyone not named Jerry Jones.

Two years ago, Jones said this when discussing a contract impasse with Pro Bowl offensive lineman Zack Martin:

“It’s not about precedent. It’s about facts. We need the money to pay [Micah] Parsons,” Jones told ESPN. “We need the money to pay the players that we got to pay in the future.”

Jones and the Cowboys’ front office morphed the lack of contract negotiations with the team’s best player into a distraction of proportions atypical for even America’s richest sports team. The football world, especially Parsons, watched as defensive stalwarts across the league landed massive paydays.

Tensions turned personal with Jones openly boasting about refusing to speak with Parsons’ agent, David Mulugheta, claiming the latter told him to take his handshake offer and “stick it up his ass.” Mulugheta, through ESPN’s Ryan Clark, vehemently denied the claim. This raised concerns about Jones’ brashness and lack of refusal to abide by labor agreements, most vehemently by Hall of Fame defensive back Darrelle Revis.

Then, there is the sweeping, albeit wildly entertaining Netflix documentary America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys. While it peels back the multifaceted and complex layers of Jones’ decades-long business acumen, it ultimately shows him for what he truly is: the premier narcissist in a league with no shortage of them. 

Lastly, there’s the Parsons trade a week before the regular season starts, with Dallas heading to Philadelphia the same night the Eagles celebrate their Super Bowl. 

This was always about Jerry because when it involves the star on the helmet, there is no greater gravitational pull than Jones. At some point, football became secondary, and entertainment became the family business. In that regard, Jones is in a class all his own. The team’s 30-year (and counting) Super Bowl drought is now a self-deprecating marketing ploy.

It’s a franchise that effectively prints its own money, and for Jones, what greater win could there be?

On the opposite side of the saga involving the now-former Cowboys great Parsons, it’s clear that Jones never had any true intentions to sign him. Parsons wanted to remain in Dallas, but it’s only so many times a gambler can force a hand to be played before the writing appears on the wall. Jones, to his credit, didn’t seem too flummoxed by the mammoth move.

“We can win, in our minds, more [games] than had we gone the other route and signed [Parsons],” Jones said Thursday evening.

The impact on the locker room is far from his chief concern. The trade, he admitted in his Thursday evening news conference, came together hours after presenting Parsons with the ultimatum “play on the fifth year [of his contract] or leave.” Getting a run stopper was important (and something Dallas has needed for years). However, trading Parsons to do so is a wound that won’t certainly heal soon for a fanbase (and Michael Irvin) in total disbelief.

Even in the immediate aftermath, a glass-half-full perspective lives. The Cowboys now have the second-most cap space at $42 million, second only to the New England Patriots. Three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark, who was part of the deal, is a run-stopping force Dallas has desperately needed in years past. Dallas also has multiple first-round picks in the next two years in what could be talent-rich draft classes. Both are objectively true. But faith means believing in an ideal even when it can’t be seen. The Cowboys, particularly Jones, don’t have that luxury.

Not when Jones said in 2024 that the team would call “all in” on making the team better following an ignominious playoff loss to, yep, the Packers — and then proceeded to strike out looking during free agency. Yet, given the contract disputes star players have had with the Cowboys, how could such a dysfunctional workplace environment appear appealing to any player looking to get paid and compete for a Lombardi Trophy?

Even if the Cowboys nail every first-round pick over the next two years, how can there be any confidence they’d even be re-signed when they ask Jones to cut the check? Speaking of first-round picks, would Clark be a Cowboy if 2023 first-round pick Mazi Smith met the potential he acknowledged was deservedly placed on him?

Even those rhetorical questions distract from the actual issue. Perhaps the sentiment will feel different in later years, but the Parsons trade is a more damaging gut punch than Dez Bryant’s catch-that-wasn’t in Lambeau Field. For Cowboys fans across America, it brings the poetic injustice of it all. Parsons, the Cowboys’ best defensive force since Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware, was traded to the one team more than any in the NFL that has haunted them come playoff time.

First, Tony Romo-to-Bryant in Green Bay in 2015 elicited years of “what’s a catch” hot takes. Second, Aaron Rodgers’ third-and-20 bomb to Jared Cook in 2017. Lastly, perhaps the most embarrassing playoff loss in recent years was when the Packers beat the Cowboys in a 48-32 blowout that wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicates.

Whether it was or not, Jones clearly felt that the trade sending Parsons to the Packers was the best deal. Jones, however, understands what he has. This isn’t the first time and won’t be the last Jones does something to rile up the rabid fanbase he helped cultivate. Here’s something else Jones is aware of: It won’t take long for Parsons’ highly anticipated return. The Packers travel to Dallas on Sept. 28 for a primetime game on Sunday night.

These words could age poorly when the fifth anniversary of the trade arrives in 2030. Nonetheless, in the moment, the only more asinine decision than trading a 26-year-old superstar pass rusher at the peak of his powers is “parting ways” with head coach Jimmy Johnson in 1994 following back-to-back Super Bowl championships. Both were self-inflicted. Both were rooted in Jones’ mythical ego. Both shook the NFL universe to its core. And both left the fanbase wondering where the hell it goes from here.

In February, Parsons was asked about his reaction to the Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. The answer now is nothing short of unintentional foreshadowing.

“I got scared for myself, like am I the next person in Dallas to get traded, because you never know,” Parsons wondered. “I think when you invest in a player, and he’s showing so much love and did so much for your program, you think the loyalty is still right there back. … I don’t plan on [asking for a trade like Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett] as long as I get a deal done.”

Parsons learned a valuable lesson. In Dallas, the biggest star in the football universe doesn’t wear a helmet … and there’s no black hole in sports quite like Jerry Jones.