In This Story
Dallas Cowboys
Green Bay Packers
Aug 28, 2025 6:15 PM EDT
in 1993, at the beginning of true free agency in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers signed Reggie White to a four-year, $17 million deal that was actually major dollars at the time, and set the franchise on a winning track it hadn’t seen since the Vince Lombardi days.
It’s exceedingly rare for one team to steal a player at the top of his game from another as the Packers did to the Philadelphia Eagles with that deal, but on Thursday, the Packers did it again. In a move that will make everybody in the Dallas/Fort Worth area apoplectic, the Dallas Cowboys traded edge-rusher Micah Parsons to Green Bay for defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two future first-round picks. There was already a four-year, $188 million contract in place that will make Parsons the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.
What this does for the Cowboys is… well, awful. More like what this does TO the Cowboys, and none of it is good. Last season, Parsons missed four games and 372 snaps with an ankle injury. Without him on the field, Dallas’ opponent offensive EPA rose from +0.07 to +0.13, their opponent passing EPA rose from +0.01 to +0.17, their opponent blown block sack rate fell from 21.1% to 15.0%, and their opponent blown block sack rate fell from 5.7% to 2.8%.
At age 26, Parsons is that rare transformational player, and if you’re surprised that an organization that generally prefers to mine homegrown talent would do such a thing, consider that the 2024 Packers finished the season with an 11-6 record and a 22-10 wild-card loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. They did so with an injured quarterback in Jordan Love, no No. 1 receiver to speak of, and a pass rush that already ranked decently with 45 sacks and 143 total pressures on a blitz rate of 17.3% that was the NFL’s second-lowest behind only the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Now, there’s a healthy Jordan Love, Texas first-round receiver Matthew Golden ready to take his place as the alpha dog in the receiver room, and Parsons adding to a group of pass disruptors who put it together with spit and baking wire under first-year defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, who could be excused for turning cartwheels in his front yard right now. Hafley is one of the NFL’s most promising assistant coaches, and in head coach Matt LaFleur, the Packers have one of the league’s top offensive masterminds.
Now, with Parsons, the Packers filled what may have been their most pressing need, because this is the one-man destruction machine this team hasn’t had in a while. Last season, Rashan Gary led the Packers with nine sacks and 49 total pressures, with Kingsley Enagbare, Devonte Wyatt, Lukas Van Ness, and Karl Brooks following behind with decent (though unspectacular) production. Van Ness, selected with the 13th overall pick in the 2023 draft out of Iowa, was supposed to be the next big thing at the edge, but that hasn’t happened, and based on his attributes, that may be all there is.
Now, there is a pass-rusher of whom there is absolutely no doubt, and Parsons will immediately amplify the efforts of those around him. He’s used to that, because he did it last season with the Cowboys. Parsons led the team with 14 sacks and 70 total pressures last season. Only Osa Odighizuwa, Chauncey Golston, and Carl Lawson were even reasonably productive behind Parsons, and by the way, only Odighizuwa and Lawson are still on the team.
Alas, Cowboys.
So, what makes Parsons so special? How can be so dominant even with an injury that abbreviated his season? At 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds, Parsons presents a series of optical illusions in that he can use demon speed you’d expect from someone his size, but he can also bomb blockers with the kind of power you’d expect from someone in the 270-pound region.
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The Packers had everything else in place to be at least competitive in the 2024 season in the NFC North, which may be the most brutally competitive in the NFL. Now, general manager Brian Gutekunst and his staff have made it abundantly clear: The time is now to make a run at a Super Bowl, and the rest of the league had better watch out.
About the Author
Doug Farrar
NFL writer, analyst