- Micah Parsons is returning to Dallas for the first time since being traded from the Cowboys to the Green Bay Packers.
- The trade involved Parsons going to Green Bay for defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first-round picks.
- Parsons, now the highest-paid non-quarterback, feels he has a better chance to win a Super Bowl with the Packers.
If you haven’t heard, Micah Parsons is headed back to Big D.
No, silly, Jerry Jones hasn’t found an answer for using his recently acquired draft capital to land the edge rusher the Dallas Cowboys desperately need for a woeful defense that, well, surely misses the presence of the edge rusher he traded to the Green Bay Packers nearly a month ago.
Parsons is headed back for a primetime showcase at Jerry World on Sunday night that looks like a slaughter waiting to happen – or perhaps a grand reminder of how much the Cowboys blew it in dealing away one of the NFL’s premier defensive players in his prime.
Of course, Parsons, who landed a four-year, $186 million contract in the exchange that averages $46.5 million annually and makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, downplayed the hype when he met with reporters in the locker room this week.
“I feel like this is going to be another game for me,” Parsons said.
Yeah, right.
For all the drama that led to the August 28 trade – the Cowboys received Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first-round picks – this must-see-TV matchup (NBC, 8:20 pm ET) is hardly another game for the NFL universe.
Yet Parsons, so media savvy, enabled for years by the intense Cowboys spotlight, knows. There’s not much he really needs to say. We can read through the lines.
Another game?
This is what he could have said: I’m going to show out with a statement game that lets everybody know what the fuss was all about.
Parsons, 26, expects he will receive a warm welcome from the crowd. After all, the last time he was at AT&T Stadium, on the sideline for a preseason game, he was seen stretched out on a training table behind the bench, apparently seeking relief for his sore back. Well, the back is better now, given a recovery that ramped up after the trade.
“I think Dallas loves me,” he said. “I think they’re going to give me a good round of applause. There’s no hard feelings there. At least not for me.”
What might have been said another way: Did you hear the people chanting, ‘Pay Micah!’ Some fans even showed up with signs expressing that message. Now they’ve got to watch me in another uniform. I love my guy, Dak Prescott, but he’s got to go down, too, like any other quarterback.
Parsons, drafted out of Penn State with the 12th pick overall in 2021, is still tight with many of his former Cowboys teammates. Prone to attack from various points across the formation, he finds it interesting that he’ll be matched up against some of the offensive linemen that he took under his wing and tutored, most recently over several weeks in training camp. Now Dallas is pressed to devise schemes against him.
“I think it gives me an advantage because I know how those guys play,” Parsons said. “I know how they want to play. I know the identity that they want to create. It’s funny, because I spent all of training camp helping these guys.”
Here’s what I think I heard with that: Good luck, fellas. I know you can’t block me. I know he can’t block me. Or him, too. And that one there, surely can’t slow me down.
The Cowboys won’t honor Parsons with any type of tribute, which they did when Emmitt Smith and Ezekiel Elliott returned to Jerry World with the Cardinals and Patriots, respectively. Jones specifically mentioned that Smith was a special case, given that he became the NFL’s all-time leading rusher and won three Super Bowls in a Cowboys uniform. No argument there. Parsons joins legendary Hall of Famer Reggie White as the only players in NFL history to post at least 12 sacks in his first four seasons, but when it came to that series of playoff collapses during his Dallas tenure, he had no such presence.
“There’s a lot of things I could consider disrespectful throughout this process. I wouldn’t say the (lack of a) tribute is one of them,” Parsons said. “I would say…I just think there’s hard feelings, maybe for them. I’m happy where I’m at. And we’ve got a really good team.”
What I would be thinking: Look, trading me away was a huge blessing. On top of the contract, I’ve got a much better chance of finally winning a Super Bowl with the Packers. Now that would be a tribute to write home about. It worked out for DeMarcus Ware, who got cut years ago and went on to win a Super Bowl with the Broncos. So, I’m good.
Interestingly, Parsons said that he never talked to Jones as the trade went down. Or even as the soap opera played out during the summer, when he was a “hold-in” as contract talks broke down and he was moved to go on social media to demand a trade.
Jones maintained that he thought he had a “handshake deal” with his star player – as he has previously negotiated directly with key players, an apparent violation of the CBA — but a new contract never materialized from those discussions last spring after Parsons apparently told the team owner/GM to follow up with his agent, David Mulugheta.
It seems apparent that at some point egos became part of the equation.
“I never even heard from Jerry Jones himself…when I even got traded,” Parsons said. “I found out through my agent. I haven’t talked to Jerry Jones since, what, OTAs? It’s one of those things.”
Parsons has posted 1 ½ sacks and 19 quarterback pressures in 116 defensive snaps for a unit that has allowed the fewest points in the NFL (14.7 per game) and ranks third for total yards (232.3 per game) and rushing yards (64.3). All eyes will be on Parsons, but if anybody is poised to steal the thunder it is Green Bay’s other edge rusher, Rashan Gary, who leads the NFL with 4 ½ sacks.
“I know that they’ve got a plan for me,” Parsons said. “But it’s not about me. If they worry about me, I’ve got other guys. I’ve got D-Wyatt (Devonte Wyatt), I’ve got Karl (Brooks). I’ve got Rashan, whose dominating this year. So, I have that to my advantage.”
He could be thinking this: We’ve got a complete defense. Get your popcorn ready.
Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on social media: On X: @JarrettBell
On Bluesky: jarrettbell.bsky.social