BREAKING NEWS: Micah Parsons Traded to the Packers

Tom Pellicero here with some breaking news into the NFL Network newsroom. Micah Parsons is a Green Bay Packer. This is not a drill. This is not April Fool's Day. The Dallas Cowboys are pulling off the biggest trade sending a star player out of Dallas since Hershel Walker in 1989, and Ian Rappaport, Micah Parsons,

gets his payday in Green Bay.

A blockbuster trade for the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys landing the Packers, maybe the best defensive player in the NFL, and the terms and the contract associated are massive. Two ones go from the Packers to the Dallas Cowboys. Micah Parsons gets a four-year, $188 million deal.

Four years, $188 million, $47 million per year. That is quarterback money, Tom. This deal done by David Mulugeta and Andre Odom of Athletes First. And this, of course, according to me and you and our good friend, Jane Slater. And look, for the Dallas Cowboys, this ends a saga that has been going on for months and months and months.

Ever since it became clear that there was nothing gonna happen with the Cowboys and Micah Parsons moving forward, called into a meeting. Jared Jones tried to negotiate a deal with him. Without his agent, rubbed Parsons the wrong way. Parsons felt like the Cowboys were taking advantage of him. At that point, the relationship was broken.

And my understanding is, over the course of the past three or four days, the Cowboys engaged with the Packers. They struck a deal about two days ago and then in secrecy, the Green Bay Packers and David Mugeta, who's Micah Parsons' agent, who the Cowboys did not negotiate with, struck this deal. Micah Parsons is now a Green Bay Packer. Those are real words, Tom, and that is very, very true.

This is additionally shocking, as you see the initial announcement from Micah Parsons himself saying go pack go because the Packers have been one of the strongest draft and develop teams for Brian Good Acuna the general

manager learned under Ted Thompson who rarely made trades rarely gave up draft capital at all much less high draft capital. My understanding is in this deal not only do the Cowboys get two

first round picks, they're also expected to get a player from the Packers as part of the deal. Now, Herschel Walker, of course, was a boatload of picks plus players. They got, they turned those players into additional picks. It was a big part of how the Cowboys built a roster that won three Super Bowls back in the 1990s.

Now, we'll see if this has a similar type of an impact here, Ian, but for Jerry Jones, who is 82, 83 years old, to make a move like this that very much appears to be a step in a rebuilding or at least retooling process, it can only be described as a shocking development,

especially because Jerry Jones had been so consistent publicly that the trade request was just a part of the negotiation. There's nothing to see here. Brian Schottenheimer saying over and over again, we believe Micah Parsons will be out there for the opener, that opening kickoff game in Philadelphia one week from tonight.

Micah Parsons will be on a couch in Grain Bay watching it with the rest of the country.

I mean, it is just an unbelievable turn of events for Micah Parsons and for the Dallas Cowboys. And Tom, I go back to a conversation I had with Steven Jones walking out of the NFL owners meeting in Dallas last December. Okay. I asked about, I had heard rumors that the Cowboys were a little frustrated with how

top heavy their roster was. Basically, how much money they were paying to their best players. And I said, is that something that you think about? Is that something you consider? And Steven Jones, in a very honest moment, said, yeah, that is something we're looking at.

We're taking a look at internally. Now, he said, I can't envision Micah Parsons in another uniform. He did say that. But this was the first time to me, and we talked about it on NFL Network plenty, that the Cowboys at least opened the door to a Micah Parsons trade. And from that very moment till this moment right now

in my head, I believed it was a possibility. And now it's not a possibility. Now it is reality. Micah Parsons lands with the Packers. So that's the Cowboys part of it Tom. I know how in deep you are with I want to take a look at the

Packers part of it.

They are a Super Bowl ready They got a franchise quarterback. They got a ton of weapons. They got a defense that has been really really improving. And I think last year probably

exceeded expectations.

They get one of the best First of all tell me how this affects him. What do you think. Well first of all week for Packers at Cowboys Micah Parsons is going to get to see his own team and be back in AT&T But absolutely this is the type of bold stroke we have not seen

in terms of a trade for the They have clung to draft picks for a long time and they have had a ton of success doing it here. But you don't make this type of trade unless you believe Micah

Parsons can be the missing If people are wondering how do the numbers get all the way here I would go back to two One being David Mugeta the agent for Micah Parsons also presided

over the Deshaun Watson negotiations several years ago. And of course that trade has not worked out for Cleveland. But in essence when you've got all the teams possible bidding on a player, it's a completely different situation than if you are paying your own player. The second part of this is for the Packers.

You see reaction around the league from Kurt Warner and JJ Watt, among others. From the Packers perspective, a $47 million per year extension, four years, $188 million in all. That is on top of the $24 million tag this year. So if I am doing the math correctly in my head here, Ian, and correct me if I'm wrong, that means Michael Parsons is going to roll $212 million over five years.

Go Ian.

Kenny Clark is getting traded to the Dallas Cowboys. Kenny Clark is the player. That is a full compensation is two ones and Kenny Clark. That is the full compensation. The Dallas Cowboys have wanted help up front, a really, really good player up front to give them some, you know, some, some heft, some help.

Kenny Clark goes from the Green Bay Packers to the Dallas Cowboys.

So full compensation, two ones, and Kenny Clark and the Green Bay Packers get Micah

Parsons.

All right, so I imagine there are some people going, how does it get to this point for the Dallas Cowboys and Micah Parsons. How, roughly five months after Jerry Jones believed that he had a deal in place with Micah Parsons to lock him up, regardless of what Dax getting paid, regardless of what C.B. Lamb is getting paid, how does it get to a point right now

that they are trading away one of what appear to be the cornerstone players on their team, still only 26 years old, and gone to the Pro Bowl in each of his four seasons double digit sacks every single season. There have been a lot of twists

and turns to this but certainly you saw various checkpoints along the way that made it seem like something was amiss. Even back in June Michael Parsons was out there a little

He did a few things through OTAs It seemed like everybody was on the same page when he came to training camp, though, and there had still been no further talks, much less progress on a new contract. It seemed like this might become more difficult than we realized. August 1st, we got the trade request from Michael Parsons in which he said very personal grievances with Jerry Jones talking about about, I no longer want to

be a part of the organization. I no longer want to be held to closed door negotiations without my agent public. Then subsequent to that, Jerry Jones, both in sessions with reporters on Michael Irvin's podcast and elsewhere, essentially said the negotiations already happened. I don't need to talk to your agent. There's no room for an agent in there.

Even setting aside whatever you want to say about what the rules say under the CBA or federal labor laws, it is highly unusual for an owner slash GM to come out and say those types of things publicly here. It feels, Ian, like we got a shift over the past several days where we went to effectively a stare down between Jerry Jones and Micah Parsons. Like hey, you either take the deal I think I did with you or play on this tag to the Cowboys seriously considering their options,

which ultimately lands Parsons in Green Bay.

I think that you nailed it pretty good. I mean, I kept thinking through in this whole thing and you and I obviously talked about. I mean, that's Trayvon Diggs right there, one of the Cowboys' best players, saying goodbye to their stud, to Micah Parsons. They get another stud in Kenny Carr, but Micah Parsons is one of one.

I kept thinking, and you and I talked about this, we talked about it plenty on TV, how's this going to break? Like, Jerry Jones was as adamant as could possibly be. And my understanding is, at some point during these talks with the Packers, that Micah Parsons and his camp went to Jerry Jones and were like, are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure, absolutely sure, that you want to do this?

And he said, yes. Like, trade him. Do the deal. And that's exactly what happened. And it was, you know, it was clear he had moved on. And I think based on what the Cowboys are getting value wise, based on the Cowboys not paying 40 plus million dollars to Micah Parsons and getting a really good player in Kenny Clark, you know, trades work for a reason.

They work because both sides are happy. This is good value for the Dallas Cowboys and it's great value for the Green Bay Packers because you can't get Micah Parsons. You really can't. These kinds of talents are generally first pick of the draft. Miles Garrett.

I mean, this is the kind of player this is. You can't get them. And if you can get them, you got to pay for them in a playoff ready window. The Green Bay Packers paid for him. And one of the best players, the NFL is now headed to Green Bay.

I would also not overlook this in Green Bay. The standard is Lombardi trophies literally the home of Vince They have certainly had a high They won more games in Matt LeFleur's first few years as the head coach than anybody in NFL

But they have not gotten back to They have not yet gotten over They're now into the next window with another young quarterback in Jordan Love that they think can be really good and to the extent that they have pumped a lot of resources into that defense. They've used a lot of high draft picks on that defense for Sean Gary has turned into a very good player for them.

They have not had anybody like Micah Parsons rushing off the edge since probably Clay Matthews in his pride and Micah Parsons with all respect to Clay Matthews who I like a lot might be a better player all around and certainly has versatility that the Packers have not had in the past. Flip side of that for the

Cowboys as we talk again about what they're trying to accomplish here. Ian you're talking about a franchise that also measures itself by Lombardi trophies.

There's literally a documentary you can watch on Netflix right The Cowboys and the 1990s and the Glorias. That is 30 years ago. They have pushed and pushed and If this is not a rebuild it is

certainly a reset. And it also raises additional Ian as much as they made a huge commitment last year to Dak Prescott, as much as they have money tied up, of course, in CD Lamb for years to come, in Trayvon Diggs for years to come. Is this in your mind, Ian,

the start of the Cowboys really beginning to retool? Or is this, hey, 2025, new coaching staff, we need to reset a little bit here. Let's have the eye to 2026 when we can start to use these additional draft picks and let's remember all this additional cash and cap space to really build this roster in perhaps a different way from the ground up.

Dak Prescott is awesome. He has been unbelievable for the Cowboys. He had a season in the injury last year and he's 32 years old. So the Cowboys have always been forward. I know everyone goes crazy because they wait because they wait to do deals and they have always been forward thinking.

At some point if you want a quarterback if you want a franchise guy you need an extra first round pick. I mean look we saw the Cleveland Browns do the same thing. There have been other teams. The Rams also do the same thing. Cowboys are now in that boat where if they need it, they have two extra first round picks.

Only way to get it is to trade one of your best players. So that, to me, I don't know if it's a rebuild, but it's at least an acknowledgment that like at some point we're going to have to be turning this thing around and these draft picks will be a big part of it. And so like I don't think it's the Cowboys that giving up on the season. I don't think anything close to that. Their roster's still really good, really deep. They have a franchise quarterback and all that. This is their opportunity to put themselves

in position for a next one. And I know Cowboys fans are gonna lose their mind. I know people are gonna compare it to Luka. I don't see that. I think this is really forward thinking by the Cowboys. I think it's good for the Dallas Cowboys. I think it really will.

The part that I can't quite get over yet is how out of character it is for the Packers. If you look through the course their history they are perpetually the team that every

time that a player becomes available everyone goes out Green Bay should be in this and in a lot of cases they are but they're not always willing to go to that type of length to do the contract and give up the picks. If I'm looking at this and I've gotten a lot of texts from people in green Bay players who were sad because

Kenny Clark's a great guy. I mean, like the whole world is texting me as we're speaking, by the way, everyone is texting right now. I will, whoever's texting me, I'm getting back to you as we're going. Please, I promise I will text you. I just got a FaceTime from a former head coach. I promise you, I will get to you in a second.

Sorry, Tom, go ahead.

Mike Garofalo is texting us.

Mike Garofalo is texting us. What is Garofalo? And wanting to know if this is real. We're literally getting notes. Is this real? Yes, it is real. So all right, let's reset for a second here. The trade that has gotten done here is the Green Bay Packers are sending two first round picks

and nose tackle Kenny Clark to the Dallas Cowboys for Micah Parsons, four time Pro Bowl linebacker slash defensive end slash whatever you want him to be. He is getting, Parsons is a four year, $188 million contract that includes $136 million guaranteed on a deal done by his agents David Boulogueta and Andre Odom of Athletes First

that is a $47 million per year new money average from the Packers from a budgeting type of a perspective here. They now have Micah Parsons under contract for five years and two hundred twelve million. Regardless Micah Parsons a very rich man as he now heads to a new

team with the Packers. So back to the history of the These are not the type of deals that they have done. But if I am looking at this and I'm not talked to Brian Good

Acuna yet but think of it this way. You're talking about OK to first round picks at a player. Well Kenny Clark is a third contract player.

He's a little bit older.

That's a guy who sometime in the coming years here you are probably going to move on from the Packers have a long history Once you get to the third contract those are guys that a long for that place. But in giving up the two first round picks really what you're doing is you're using next

year's first round draft pick on Micah Parsons. So it's like you're using that pick. That's now your player who's a proven commodity as opposed to

the lottery tickets that you actually get in the draft. And then you give up the additional first round pick as part of the toll to get that player. The bigger impact here is the cash and the salary cap, Ian,

because of course Jordan Love is making upwards of $50 million. As we bring in our Mike Garofalo as well. Mike, I will come to that. He's one of the people who kept texting us saying, get me on.

Here he is, ready to talk about this deal here. This does, Mike, create some challenges for the Packers from a roster building perspective But they are doing something that I know Packers fans have waited a long time to see which is not just be in the deal But make the splash trade and try as much as they're always building both for now and the future To go for it in a big way in 2025 Yeah, I've been sitting here watching listening to you guys man. I learned a lot. This is a great program you got going on here.

So happy to join it. Thanks for having me. Why are you in suits? It's just a trade. It's not a funeral. He didn't die.

He'll be fine up there in Green Bay.

He messed it up.

And he will produce.

It's a celebration. And they will put him in a position to produce. I mean, Tom, sometimes you've got to make the big splash for a guy that's got the impact that Micah Parsons has. In this league, two things are important. One, the quarterback. Two, disrupting the quarterback. And Micah Parsons does that in so many ways.

So the Packers going out and putting together a deal that really blows out of the Cowboys deal out of the water. From that perspective, in what they were able to do, David Mulageta and Andre Odom, to get this deal done at $47 million per year. All those deals that got done this entire offseason, we were saying, oh, that's setting the bar for Micah Parsons to leap over.

And that's why Mulageta wanted this deal to be done after all these. Remember Micah, oh, I want to get the deal done early and he said no no relax We're gonna get this deal done at the end after TJ What after miles Garrett after all these guys got done because now you can jump over that bar Did we know he was gonna clear it feet first the way that he did probably not but? Being part of the trade helps you get to that point that gives you even more leverage to get up to that point to say

Okay, we're gonna make this trade happen at that number pretty incredible That he was able to get to that number sets a new bar for now the next pass rusher to have to try to get

up to

That's a man go back through the course this offseason and one of the dynamics that's unique especially at a time that Jerry Jones has put out the Netflix documentary that he certainly cooperated with about their success back in the 1990s was it was always about showmanship.

It was about three hundred sixty five days a year. Be the show. Be entertainment. To the course this offseason but for the Micah Parson saga in the

Cowboys I don't even think it's really arguable. I think objectively speaking are the least interesting team in their own division. You have the Commanders coming off of an NFC Championship appearance. You have the Eagles who just won the Super Bowl.

You have the Giants who are like team vibes in the preseason and they got a young quarterback they're excited about. Nobody was talking about the 89 guys who are on the field for the Cowboys. This is the Cowboys. We talk about them all the time on TV. They were not the center of attention, nor will they be the center of attention

other than of course in the kickoff game on Thursday night. In all likelihood, through the 2025 season, unless they just win a lot more games than people on the outside are expecting. But come 2026, with all this additional cash, cap space, extra draft picks, they will now be the center of the NFL universe headed into 2026.

What are they going to do with all that? That is absolutely a storyline we'll be talking about.

No doubt. And look, we know last season they did very little in free aid and she kinda saving up their money, ended up paying some of their own guys. Now they save more money by not paying Micah Parsons. Packers pay him a ton, a lot of money to Micah Parsons for the Green Bay Packers. Cowboys now don't pay it.

They have a quarterback who will be 33 next year, still making a lot of money. It's going to be really interesting to see which way they pivot. Again, this is a very, very forward thinking organization. You have to know that they did this deal with quarterback in mind and with retooling in mind. They because they paid so much money to so many of their best players, which is their fault.

They drafted so well over the course of the last like five or six years. They basically have had to pay their own guys and just kind of caught up with them. This is an opportunity to reset. The one thing I would say, Tom, and the Cowboys have some past rushers and we're going to find out about who are young and who are going to be pretty good. No one's Micah Parsons, but you're going to be young and pretty good. They still have a chance to be a good football team.

And like, like Mike was joking about my tie, which why did I put on a tie? I have no idea. I was gearing up for the trade. This is what I got dressed in. That's just that's just what happened. I don't my brain hasn't been working for about eight hours since I had my finger on the button here. But the Dallas Cowboys like this is a team that should still be good. We're just going to see him have to do it without Micah Parsons.

We have a reaction to from Green Bay I know Leroy Butler has weighed in no secret Micah Parsons my favorite non Packers player now he's my second favorite after Jordan Love was in Green Bay when Reggie White came to the Packers it changed our franchise Reggie said

I want to win a Super Bowl and we got it Super Bowl thirty one that was a course back in the early days of free agency in the early 1990s Reggie White was a franchise changer for the Green Bay Packers who also around that same

time traded a first round draft pick to get a guy by the name of Brett Favre. So this was not a organization that historically has been completely allergic to the big moves. It just has become more infrequent in recent years. And if you want to know the current mood inside Lambeau Field right now I can tell you I got a text from Matt LeFleur.

I asked him how he's feeling. His exact response.

He said I can use this on TV. Bleep me.

I cannot sit down. That's how excited they are in

Green Bay.

Micah Parsons is a Packer coming If you're Jeff Hathaway right now, you are dreaming of all the different ways you're going to be able to move this chess piece around the field and create these types of mismatches. Now, the next question here, Mike, of course, is how ready is Micah Parsons? Whatever he found out about in the second opinion on his back, which are James Slater,

who has been all over this from the start. We'll hopefully get her on the show as well. Here mentioned he went and got a second opinion yesterday, which is something you do when you're going down the road of something that might turn into a grievance at some point here. It's not just about the health, though, Mike, it's also about from a conditioning aspect here. He buys himself a few days because the Packers don't play until Sunday instead of Thursday night, but 10 days, not a lot of time to get ready. That's gonna be interesting to see how do they ramp them up?

Cuz the last thing you wanna do is give a guy 47 million a year, trade two first round picks in your nose tackle, and then he strains a hamstring on day one. There is a back thing here. It's not a phantom injury, but it's not debilitating and it's something that $47 million a year will help, you know, alleviate. And that's what's going to happen here.

So Micah Parsons on the field. I do expect that he will be ready and kind of like the Cowboys. I mean, the Cowboys were approaching this like he was going to be on a pitch count for their game. You're right, Tom. He gets a couple more days, but did not practice all summer.

We'll have to make sure that the back is is okay I think it's gonna be fine from what I gather And needs to learn the system needs to learn what they're gonna do So I would expect some kind of a pitch count as he works his way in but these things can ramp up really quickly And with everything they gave up Monetarily draft pick wise I would expect that they expect him to be a full participant on that defense in short order It is pretty incredible that from a Packers perspective, yes, you lost Kenny Clark, who was an impact player

on the inside, but you got four years younger as well. Kenny Clark's about to turn 30. Micah Parsons just turned 26. So you're getting the best years of his career as part of this trade.

Well, you know what I was thinking about? You talk about the doctor's appointment that Micah Parsons went to. If there was ever any doubt from the Green Bay Packers whether or not he would pass a physical after not participating in training camp, like, he just passed one, right? I mean, I assume he went to go see Dr. Watkins, one of the experts in BACs.

He was in L.A. That's where, you know, again, one of the specialists is, if the Packers ever wondered about his health, they probably got a pretty good read there, which just so happened to be while the two sides were negotiating Micah Parsons' contract, while the Packers knew they had a deal with the Dallas Cowboys, and they also now know Micah Parsons has a clean bill of health. So, all those things happened in what has been a very nervy three or four days for everyone

involved,

including maybe a couple of reporters. But all's well that ends well for Micah Parsons, who is now a Green Bay Packer.

And certainly Micah Parsons has a lot of reasons to be happy. One hundred eight million, one hundred eighty eight million of them specifically, but also the fact that he gets an opportunity to go and play for an iconic franchise. Some people are gonna look at this and say, all right, Micah is leaving Dallas. He always wanted to be a cowboy. It's a different type of place to live. The point that's been made to me is,

number one, you play college in State College, Pennsylvania at Penn State. There are a lot of similarities to Green Bay, Wisconsin in terms of the entire city revolves around the football team. It may be a smaller town, certainly the smallest market in the NFL, but it's a place that absolutely

embraces this team. Their facility is absolutely unbelievable. You'll have all the tools that you need. And for Micah, who isn't necessarily a guy who's going out all the time, you can survive with living in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Two is he shares an agent with Jordan Love.

The two of them have gotten to know each other through various agency events. They are really close. Jordan Love has been in touch with Micah Parsons here. So it's not as if he's going into a completely foreign place to him.

It's not strictly about the dollars either. But Mike, I go back again to Micah Parsons' statement back on August 1st, and you heard it from Jerry Jones repeatedly. This is just a negotiating tactic. It's all a part of it here.

Micah Parsons was very firm. He was very clear. I don't wanna be part of this organization. Terry McLaurin never said that. Trey Hendrickson never said that. Micah Parsons went at the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, arguably the most powerful person

in the NFL, not named Roger Goodell. In the end, it took 27 days from that trade request here, but Micah ultimately got what he wanted, which is a new home and a big paycheck. Yeah, but I would say this. If the Cowboys didn't do this, and until recent days hadn't shown an indication that they would do this, would Micah Parsons have played week one against

the Eagles? I think he might have. I mean, and nobody really could say for sure, and Micah really probably didn't make a final firm decision, but a lot of indications were that he wasn't going to miss that game check, but that actually wasn't even the most important part Was that he wanted to get back on the field he wanted to be out there with his teammates He wanted to play against the Eagles in Philadelphia divisional rival the Super Bowl champions on opening night of the NFL season

so I you know I the trade request is You put it out there You better be ready for it to be honored that kind of a. And I think he's happy that he got what he wanted financially and he's gonna get a fresh start in Green Bay. I just don't know where this would have gone. It's a moot point at this point because the Cowboys did what I didn't think they

would do. I did not. All along did not think, and they had given signs that they wouldn't, did not think that they were gonna trade him. Hopefully they did. All right, let's take a break here. We have a ton more to come on this show. Leroy Butler is going to join us at the top of the hour. We'll be back live 6 p.m. Eastern time, 5 o'clock Central, just because I'm guessing a lot of

people watching might be in that time zone. We'll also have the insiders at 7 p.m. Eastern time, so stick around once again, the breaking news as big of a trade as it gets. Micah Parsons to the Packers in exchange for two first round picks and nose tackle Kenny Clark. Parsons also cashing in a four year $188 million contract extension. An absolute game changer one week before the Cowboys and

the Eagles kick off the 2025 regular season. Do not go anywhere. Do not go anywhere. We're still rolling right here on NFL Network.