ClutchPoints
The Micah Parsons saga is officially over, but nobody in their right mind would have guessed that this would be the conclusion. On Thursday, the Dallas Cowboys traded Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for a package of two first-round picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark.
Of course, this comes as a huge shock. Even after Parsons’ well-documented hold-in while he waited for a new contract extension and his trade request made during training camp, it seemed highly unlikely that it would ever get to this point.
Parsons did get the contract extension that he was looking for from Green Bay, inking a four-year, $188 million deal with the Packers that should have him ready to go for Week 1. Now that Parsons is officially a Packer, it’s safe to say the calculus in the NFC has changed dramatically.
So, how did both teams end up in this deal? Let’s grade each side in one of the biggest NFL trades in recent memory.
The Packers already came into this season with very high expectations, but they were still a fringe Super Bowl contender and comfortably behind the Eagles as the favorite in the NFC. If you were to pinpoint one thing that Green Bay needed to make the jump into the top tier, it would have been a true difference-maker on the defensive side of the ball.
Now, they have that with one of, if not the best pass rusher in the league in Parsons. For his career, the Penn State product has 52.5 sacks and 63 tackles for loss and is one of two players, along with Reggie White, to get to 12 or more sacks in each of his first four seasons. He has been named an All Pro three times and was unquestionably the best defensive player in football during the back half of last season after coming back from an ankle injury.
This is an all-in move for the Packers, who lose a key piece in the middle in Clark and vital draft capital in the coming years, but the addition of Parsons makes this a truly fearsome squad on both sides of the ball. Green Bay can now get after the quarterback with the best of them, and that will pay dividends in December and January.
Green Bay also got the extension done for Parsons, which puts him under contract until 2030 with the Packers. That gives them a distinct Super Bowl window to compete for a title, and that is ultimately what makes this deal a home run.
Grade: A+
Jerry Jones, what the f**k man?
In truth, the Cowboys have been asking this for a few years now. The Parsons saga during training camp and the preseason sounded all too familiar. It was almost the same thing that happened to Dak Prescott a few years back and to CeeDee...
