Before Jerry Jones watched the Dallas Cowboys on the field taking on the Green Bay Packers, he addressed the elephant in AT&T Stadium.
The Dallas Cowboys owner has been taking slings and arrows for his decision to trade Micah Parsons ahead of the 2025 NFL season. He spent some of his time on Sunday continuing to defend his position.
‘One player for five or six players,’ Jones said regarding his logic to make the trade. ‘Now you’ll say, ‘You gotta get those players.’ Well, we were able to bring one of them with us when we made the trade.’
Jones added that Parsons is an ‘outstanding’ and ‘rare’ talent, but he didn’t factor into the Super Bowl chances this year.
‘I believe our best chance for a Super Bowl – with Dak Prescott and the makeup of our supporting case – I believe our best chance is in the numbers,’ Jones said. ‘I’ve always been right, or had the best chance of being right, when the numbers are right.’
The ‘numbers’ that Jones is referring to in this case seem to be players. Jones likened the Parsons trade to the famous Herschel Walker trade, the backbone deal of what helped build the ’90s Cowboys dynasty, saying that the swap allowed them to maneuver the roster the way they had liked.
Jones received Kenny Clark in the deal, as well as two future first-round draft picks, which gives the Cowboys some level of flexibility; they can be made to select players or used to move up and down the draft board or swapped for other players in the future. The Walker deal saw a return of myriad of draft picks that helped shape the roster.
The Cowboys owner was effusive in his praise of Parsons, but added that the split came when the pash rushing superstar got ‘caught up in the numbers’ with him. He did admit that he was hurt to see his former star in a Packers uniform.
Still, Jones is confident that the trade may work out for Dallas in the future.
‘It might not be that Christmas that the bicycle got under that tree, but thinking ahead, you could have a motorcycle under that thing,’ he said.
Ahead of his return to Dallas, Parsons notched 15 pressures and 1.5 sacks for the Packers. Only time will tell who ultimately gets the better end of the deal.