‘You don’t trade a generational player’: Micah Parsons trade a Packers no-brainer, Cowboys head-scratcher

The Dallas Cowboys on Thursday traded superstar edge rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers, parting ways with one of the NFL’s elite defensive players in his prime.

That’s a whole lot to digest.

Now, with the Cowboys preparing to face the Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles next Thursday in the league’s curtain-raiser, they’ll have to regroup in an effort to fill a canyon-sized hole on defense that most likely can’t be filled by anyone on their roster. Or most rosters, for that matter.

Parsons is just that good.

Gleefully, the Packers packaged Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark and their first-round picks in the 2026 and 2027 drafts for Parsons. They agreed to make Parsons the highest-paid non-quarterback in league history: His four-year contract includes $120 million fully guaranteed at signing and $136 million in total guarantees.

The Packers know a great deal when they see one.

Selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his first four seasons, Parsons, 26, also is a three-time Associated Press All-Pro (a two-time, first-team selection). He won the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award. Parsons has twice finished among the top three in voting for the AP Defensive Player of the Year award, and he is one of only four players to have at least 10 sacks in each of their first four seasons.

The others are Reggie White, Derrick Thomas and Dwight Freeney. Their bronze busts are on display in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Get it?

The Cowboys sent the Packers a generational talent at a position second only in importance to quarterback. Not surprisingly, the move was the talk of the league Thursday night.

There’s no doubt about it: The Packers scored a huge victory before the regular season has kicked off.

“He changes the game,” said a former longtime NFL general manager and Super Bowl winner who scouted Parsons while the linebacker starred at Penn State. “Green Bay is saying, ‘We’re getting a guy here that is in his prime. This guy could be a Hall of Famer.’ When you can get the star, you get the star. That’s it.

“And there has been a lot more given up [historically] for a player of this magnitude. For Green Bay, it’s a good trade. And with Dallas, who knows where they are as a football team?”

Surely, many Cowboys fans must be wondering.

Although they’ve grown accustomed to protracted contract drama with notable players during the long tenure of owner and general manager Jerry Jones, they’re also used to him eventually reaching deals with most of the franchise’s most high-profile performers. This stunner hit like a sharp pain deep in the heart of Texas.

From Emmitt Smith in 1993 to Zack Martin in 2023, unions were tested during contract battles – but they always held. This conflict with Parsons ended in a breakup.

Publicly, Cowboys players figure to toe the line. They have bills to pay. Behind closed locker-room doors, however, they’ll probably feel unshackled. For Parsons’ former Cowboys teammates, the trade is soul-crushing. It’s the type of move that could torpedo the Cowboys’ season before it starts.

And then there’s Dallas rookie head coach Brian Schottenheimer. After 28 years toiling as an NFL assistant, Schottenheimer finally has reached the top rung of the coaching ladder. He’ll try to hang on after losing the team’s best player and navigating the inevitable fallout from the trade.

That’s a lot to handle for a longtime head coach, let alone one who already begins the season under the microscope because of his lack of experience directing an entire team. Unquestionably, the club’s owner and general manager have made the head coach’s job harder.

From the Cowboys’ perspective, putting the best spin possible on it, they weren’t viewed as a legitimate Super Bowl contender with Parsons, and Clark is a good player. But Clark turns 30 in October. He’s entering his 10th season.

If the Cowboys choose wisely, the two first-round picks they received could be used to bolster the roster eventually.

Still, Green Bay made a winning move, the former general manager said.

“The Packers are sitting there, saying, ‘We’re a playoff team. Those picks are going to be in the 20s [or lower],’ ” he said. “So, yeah, they’ve given up the picks, but they also do a great job drafting. They’re thinking they’re going to be OK. They’re confident. And you just got a game-changing player. You got the best defensive player in football.”

In what becomes one of the most-anticipated games of the season, the Cowboys play host to the Packers on Sept. 28. The sight of Parsons in a Packers uniform at AT&T Stadium figures to be unnerving for Cowboys supporters. Jones might not like it much, either.

Of course, it was Jones’ decision to move on from Parsons. He’ll have to live with it.

“You don’t trade a generational player,” the longtime general manager said. “I wouldn’t do it.”

For the Packers, acquiring Parsons was a no-brainer. Once again, it’s not clear what the Cowboys were thinking.