There is surely no one happier than to no longer be associated with the Dallas Cowboys than Mike McCarthy, who was let go as head coach in January.
While McCarthy has spoken highly of Jerry Jones since his departure, he surely got a chuckle out of Jones trading away one of the best pass rushers in franchise history to the team he coached before the Cowboys.
Well, McCarthy has somehow found himself in the middle of the Parsons fallout after Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst revealed he talked with plenty of people who were involved with Parsons in Dallas before the trade, per ESPN reporter Rob Demovsky.
Former Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy may have influenced Packers' decision to trade for Micah Parsons
"There's been people around him in his pro career that we have ties with," Gutekunst said on Friday.
McCarthy certainly checks those boxes. Hired as the Cowboys' head coach in 2020, he was at the helm when Parsons was drafted No. 12 overall in 2021. While Parsons developed a close relationship with then-defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, he got along just fine with McCarthy.
Regardless, McCarthy was around Parsons for all four of his seasons with the Cowboys. It stands to reason that the Packers asked for some semblance of feedback from McCarthy, who coached Green Bay for 13 seasons, including their last Super Bowl win in 2010.
Gutekunst ironically was hired as Packers general manager in McCarthy's last season with the organization in 2018, but his departure had been brewing for a while amid a deteriorating relationship with quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Just like McCarthy speaks highly of the Cowboys, he doesn't hold any bad blood with the franchise that gave him his first head coaching job after 13 years of coaching in the league, including six as an offensive coordinator between the Saints and 49ers.
Again, Gutekunst did not list McCarthy among the names he consulted with. It's possible McCarthy didn't want to get wrapped up in a bidding war between his two former teams.
However, it's fairly easy to connect McCarthy as one of the individuals Gutekunst checked in with before he took Jerry Jones to the cleaners. Wouldn't that be something?
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