It’s finally over. The Micah Parsons saga ended in epic fashion as the team’s star pass rusher was shipped to the Green Bay Packers. No longer will we have to worry about a contract extension. No longer will we have to worry if he’ll play in the season opener. No longer is he a Dallas Cowboy.
A blockbuster trade where a team loses one of the elite talents in the league is never going to be a fun time. Cowboys Nation is setting the streets on fire right now. Jerry Jones may need to go into the witness protection program, as this one is not going to die down anytime soon. The tumultuous atmosphere that surrounds this team 7/24/365 just got dosed with jet fuel. Buckle up, Cowboys fans, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
While it’s going to take a while for this gut-wrenching feeling to subside, eventually, it will. It’s better to have loved and lost than to never loved at all. Of course, whoever made up that nonsense never had to part ways with one of the league’s best pass rushers. Parsons has started his career with four straight seasons with at least 12 sacks, becoming only the second player in NFL history to do that. The other being, Reggie White. Coincidentally, White was also drafted by an NFC East team (Philadelphia) before moving on to play for the Packers.
In return, the Cowboys received three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark. Thanks to a leaked draft board, we know that Clark was ranked 20th on the Cowboys’ draft board in 2016. Instantly, the Cowboys’ worst position, nose tackle, got a big upgrade. Clark has been a staple of reliability over his nine-year career, never missing more than three games in a season. Only twice has he missed more than one game in a season. He has put in at least four sacks and 40+ tackles in six of his last eight seasons. Clark is under contract through the 2027 season.
The Cowboys also will get the Packers’ next two first-round picks, in 2026 and 2027. For a team with a strong track record of drafting on Day 1, this is quite a bit of ammo. With Green Bay being a good football team, these draft picks will likely be outside the top 20. What ultimately becomes of those picks will go a long way in determining if the Cowboys made a good deal.
Of course, what becomes of Parsons means a lot also. Will he continue along this trajectory of being one of the game’s most disruptive defensive players? Will his 245-pound size hold up to the continuous pounding of attacking the quarterback? And is there any truth to reported character concerns within the clubhouse that had people doubting if the team was truly all-in with him? These are questions that will be answered as well.
For Dallas, they must turn the page and focus on the players who are on their football team. The addition of Clark gives the Cowboys an interior line group of Osa Odighizuwa, Kenny Clark, Solomon Thomas, and Perrion Winfrey. That’s not too shabby.
And despite not having Parsons, the team’s edge-rushing group isn’t bad either, thanks to some proactive drafting that landed them two second-round players in back-to-back drafts. Marshawn Kneeland and Donovan Ezeiruaku, paired with Dante Fowler and preseason standout James Houston, make them an interesting group.
Finally, the Cowboys now have what was likely to be $200 million in extra cap space over the next five seasons that can go towards other players. This could mean a player like George Pickens, who may have been too pricy to retain, has now become affordable. Other looming contracts of young All-Pros like Tyler Smith and DaRon Bland stand a much better chance of sticking around.
It’s going to take some time to fully understand everything that went down for this to happen, and it may be even longer before we can tie a bow on whether this was a good trade or not, but there are elements of this that are positive for the Cowboys. A re-balancing of talent, extra draft capital, and additional cap space all matter and how the Cowboys use it will go a long way in determining the true value of this monster trade.
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