Micah Parsons
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Dallas Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons.
The Buffalo Bills have made some big moves in recent years to bolster their pass rush, signing Von Miller in 2022 and Joey Bosa this year.
The team could have landed an even bigger name, with a new report revealing that they inquired with the Dallas Cowboys on edge rusher Micah Parsons before he was ultimately traded to the Green Bay Packers.
Bills Jumped at Opportunity for Micah Parsons
The Cowboys had pushed aside trade rumors for much of the offseason, insisting they were not planning to move Parsons even as contract talks stalled and the relationship with their star edge rusher fractured.
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported that as soon as the Cowboys began to warm up to the idea of trading Parsons, the Bills were among the group of teams to make a call on him.
“About a week before the deal was finalized, word spread that the Cowboys’ stance on dealing their star had shifted. ‘We’re not trading Parsons’ had quickly become ‘Okay, what can we get?’ That opened the door,” Russini wrote. “The Colts, Panthers, Bills, and Patriots all made calls and were told the price: two first-round picks, a significant player, and, of course, a record-setting contract.”
It’s not clear how serious the Bills would have been in landing Parsons. General manager Brandon Beane has said the team will often inquire about the asking price for players, doing their due diligence even if it is unlikely that anything will come from it.
But occasionally, those inquiries have turned into big moves. Beane said the team had asked the Minnesota Vikings in 2019 if they would have any interest in trading wide receiver Stefon Diggs. The Vikings said no, but one year later, after Diggs made statements on social media hinting that he was unhappy in Minnesota, the Bills called and asked again. This time, the Vikings were willing to make a deal and sent Diggs to the Bills.
While nothing came of the team’s inquiry to the Cowboys on Parsons, the report showed that the Bills are open to the idea of more upgrades to their defense and could signal a willingness to make moves ahead of this season’s trade deadline.
Bills Seen as Top Contender for Micah Parsons
While the Bills ended up losing out to the Packers for Parsons, some analysts saw Buffalo as a strong fit. Ralph Vacchiano of Fox Sports named the Bills as one of the few teams that could actually pull off the trade.
“It would take some serious salary cap gymnastics for the Bills to pull this off, and the cost would probably be higher than it would be for most teams,” Vacchiano wrote. “They’re a Super Bowl threat even without Parsons, so their draft picks are generally low, meaning the Cowboys would ask for more of them. That means the Bills would have to mortgage a lot of their future. But it might be worth it for them, more than any other team, to figure out a way to get it done.”