Micah Parsons Is a Packer, and Jerry Jones May Have Lost Cowboys Fans Forever

0:00Diante Lee:Oh, welcome to the Rigor NFL show. Sheil Kapadia here, joined by my friend Diante Lee. We got a little emergency pod because in a stunner, the Dallas Cowboys have traded Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for two first round picks and defensive tackle. Kenny Clark Parsons gets a four year,$188 million extension that includes$120 million fully guaranteed at signing. making him the highest paid non-quarterback in the NFL. Deontay, I came on this pod earlier in the week and was doing, don't fall for Jerry Jones' shenanigans. Give me a break. This is going to get done. I'm not, you know, you're wasting headlines.

0:41Diante Lee:We're wasting pot. Whoops, got that one wrong. So I was shocked by you, your level of shock when you saw from one to ten, maybe tens Luka Doncic from one to ten. What was your level of shock when you saw this trade go down today? To me, it's a nine, right? And I'm sure we'll get into all the reasons why, right? Like the only reason why it's not a 10 is because of a little bit of the drama and bluster, I guess, that has been going on for the last month or so with this contract negotiation. But you couldn't have told me when I was talking, you know, with our colleague, Lindsay Jones, about being available this weekend.

1:15You know, we were talking more in the context of the contract's going to get done. So let's just make sure we're ready. We'll have something we can get bagged out really quick and get up on the site. I did not believe for one solitary moment that I would end my Friday looking at my phone, seeing that Michael Parsons is a Green Bay Packer now.

1:31Diante Lee:Absolutely. Stunner. Same here. All right. Like Deontay said, we're going to get into every aspect of this deal from the Cowboys side, from the Packers side, the compensation, Jerry Jones, all of it. We're going to take a break. We're going to dive into all of that when we come back. This episode is presented by American Eagle. Whether you're hanging out at home When we're headed out for a training session, American Eagle has you covered with a ton of new stuff. We're talking super comfy heavyweight hoodies and joggers that look and feel great, sweat-wicking active shorts that are good to go anytime, anywhere, new move-free jeans made from a crazy comfy, real-looking denim, and their biggest underwear collection of the year with striped, solid, and print styles to fill your drawer.

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2:54Diante Lee:Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tremphaya today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit TremfireRadio.com.

3:32Diante Lee:All right, we're back on the Ringer NFL show. Let's start with the Cowboys perspective. We got to start there, Deontay, because we both, we thought this was going to get done. You don't let players like Micah Parsons get out the door. You draft them, you develop them, you sign them. They're cowboys for life. That's not what happened here. And let's retrace real quick how it happened. Jerry Jones thought he was negotiating with Micah Parsons. This has all been reported, the Athletic, ESPN, everywhere. Parsons didn't view it that way. And he said explicitly, I want my agent present. Well, Jerry sends the offer to Parsons' agent, and they're saying, no, we're still negotiating.

4:09Diante Lee:You didn't agree to anything with our player. And so rather than try to make something work there and still get to the end line and Michael Parsons is still a Cowboy, they end up trading him. So what is your sense beyond that, if there is anything beyond that, of how the Cowboys could let it get to this point and why this actually happened? You know, we say a lot about Jerry Jones. One thing that I would say about him is that usually the most straightforward interpretation is exactly what happened. And to me, I think it's very telling that we never heard anything from Micah Parsons or David Mulighetta about any of the contract figures or length of deal or anything like that, right?

4:47There was no corroboration coming from Micah's side that, yeah, we did talk about the rough outline of a deal and we felt good about it. And then when Micah brought it to David Mulighetta, he said, no, this is not how we do things. What we've heard is what Jerry Jones believes was the process in trying to get this contract signed. And I think it was very telling that today, a couple of hours before we got news of the trade, we heard about, you know, we heard very specifically from ESPN reporting, NFL Network reporting, that he put a five-year,$200 million deal on the line, right? For Jerry, or excuse me, for Michael Parsons at that time.

5:23And that's not market value. That wasn't market value then. It certainly wasn't market value after guys like TJ Watt got signed for a higher AAV than that. You don't usually see non-quarterbacks take five-year deals either because you'll miss out on market. So to me, I just think it's really telling the way that some of the information is disseminated. And then I think ultimately, and the thing I've been thinking about a lot is clearly the fact that Micah Parsons was not willing to just take the Jerry Jones bluster and handle his business privately seemed to really chuff everybody in the Cowboys organization.

5:55Right. When it was Dak Prescott's turn, he kept it relatively quiet, believing that he was going to get the deal done. Hey, if they've got to tag me, they've got to tag me. We'll get it worked out. When it was Ezekiel Elliott, they got it worked out. Right. all these guys so far have gotten paid quietly and let Jerry Jones do the Jerry Jones thing. I think the fact that Michael Parsons decided to go his own public route kind of speaks to what their relationship was, how easy, and I think how tenuous it was for it to break down. And the fact that we're here now, I guess, once you look at the entire order of events, knowing that the trade happened, I think that it kind of follows a little bit more of a logical pathway than maybe we would have gave it credit for as things were happening in real time.

6:32because I just don't think you couldn't have assumed that he would be traded at the end of this.

6:36Diante Lee:It's a great point. If you're a star player in Dallas, you're probably like, all right, this is how Jerry does it. It's cool. I'm going to get my money at the end of the day. Well, for one guy, it didn't seem like he was cool with that and he didn't want it to happen that way. And this is different. I mean, to me, this marks a new era of Cowboys football, one in which Jerry Jones is no longer qualified to run the team. And you can say, come on, Shield, that day came a long time ago. But I would point out that for all the nonsense, they always got to a place where Dak Prescott remained a cowboy, where CeeDee Lamb remained a cowboy, to where they were winning 36 games from 2021 to 2023, second in the NFL to only the Chiefs.

7:16Diante Lee:But this is different. This is a disaster on so many levels because it symbolizes that Jerry Jones doesn't know what it requires to run an NFL franchise anymore. I mean, maintaining a relationship with a powerful agent who you're going to be doing negotiations with, with a lot of your best players. That's like, we could make a very short list, Deontay, of what you need to do as a GM. And that's going to be on that list. Well-run organizations. You draft a guy. You develop him. He plays well. He plays through injuries. You lock him up early to your point. Early. Top of the market. And even if you don't, like with Dak and Cedar, you still get there eventually and you pay him at the top of the market.

7:54Diante Lee:The thing here is this should have been an easy negotiation. Micah Parsons, like over 90 % of the time is going to play the length of this contract and it's not going to be an issue. So man, if you're a Cowboys fan, you got to be sick to your stomach. You let a future Hall of Famer, one of the three best defensive players in the NFL, walk through the door. And if you're everyone else, if you're Deontay, if you're me, if you're a Commanders fan, if you're a Packers, you're laughing at the Cowboys because now they have to be viewed is one of the worst run franchises in the NFL. I mean, 100%, right?

8:28And again, I think it bears repeating that none of this had to play out this way. Right. To me, if you want to, there's nothing wrong with GMs and ownership driving hard bargains on contract negotiations. We see San Francisco do this all the time. Eventually, they usually land on a number that works for the player that they're trying to retain, but those can be very protracted negotiations. We see that across the league, period. period, plenty of times with veterans. What it never had to be was an entire relationship breakdown. And I will say, we spoke a little bit earlier about how the relationship broke down between Micah and Jerry Jones, at least based on just kind of how we're reading the tea leaves.

9:05I also think, and you pointed this out, it does not make any sense to me if you're Jerry Jones, why you would give David Mulligetta your ass to kiss. That makes no sense to me. I don't understand that. I can't grasp that. This is one of the most powerful agents in American sports, period not just the nfl american sports period and his client list is long and his relationships with other organizations is very deep right and people have very strong feelings about how he negotiates for players i don't think that you were ever going to win the staring contest with this guy and that's why to me i always figured that there was no way we would get to this point there's no way you're going to look at david muligheta and michael parsons a guy that's been an all pro basically from the moment that you dropped him on the edge full time he was either the best or one of the three best edge rushers in the NFL, there was no way that you were going to let that walk out your door.

9:54And you certainly weren't going to do it for two firsts and an aging defensive tackle who's fresh off maybe the worst year of his career. Right now, after you went and acquired a George Pickens, after you spent all this draft capital, bringing an offensive lineman, we have been talking all off season about, Hey, the Cowboys are a sneaky team. They got some issues on the back end defensively, but you know, the offense looks good. You've got Michael Parsons, maybe you can get high. And this team might be, you know, in the divisional or conference championship round if things go right. Definitely not the case anymore.

10:24And it's wild how one move can just totally change the trajectory, especially for a non-quarterback. And I think that speaks to how important Mike is to this team. And the fact that, like you said, we're looking at a team that just does not know, I think, how to maintain itself as a contender in this era of football.

10:41Diante Lee:Yeah, normally my bad takes don't get exposed to week three or week four, Deontay, but Cowboys sneaky playoff team. Don't worry about the Parsons thing. It'll get done. Tough start for your boy for the 2025 season, but we, you know, we, a lot of football left for the take. Sorry. You mentioned the comp. Let's take a break. When we come back, I want to talk about the compensation and then talk about what this means for the Packers. So if you're a Packers fan, you're loving life right now. What a day. This episode is sponsored by American Eagle. So it's official. American Eagle just launched their exclusive limited edition collab with True Colors by Travis Kelsey, and we could not be more excited to check it out.

11:21Diante Lee:From sweater polos to loose and baggy pants to comfy sets, there's literally something for everyone. They also dropped a handful of incredibly comfy graphic tees that you can easily wear on repeat with relaxed cargoes or jeans. If you're a huge fan or just love the collab, shop the first drop now before it's gone. You can check it all out at AE.com or just go to the store. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tremphaya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tremphaya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks.

12:04Diante Lee:If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Tremphaya, proper training is required. Tremphaya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tremphaya today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit TremfireRadio.com.

12:43Diante Lee:All right, we're back on the Ringer NFL show. So the comp, you know, the only kind of comparison we have is the Khalil Mack trade in 2018. And that was two first round picks, a third round pick, and a sixth round pick. Khalil Mack was entering his age 27 season. Parsons is entering his age 26 season. Mack was a two-time All-Pro. Parsons is a four-time all-prime. And you mentioned it. Parsons has finished top three in defensive player of the year voting in three of four seasons. So I don't know how you do this deal if you're the Cowboys. Two first round picks and Kenny Clark, a defensive tackle, entering his age 30 season who had one sack last year.

13:24Diante Lee:I'm not here to clown Kenny Clark. He's had a very good career. But if you're looking at just a comparison here, one sack last year in 17 starts as the veteran you wanted to add. So my thing is, if they would have put out a thing to the whole NFL, hey, we can't make this work with Micah Parsons. We're trading him. Get your best offers in by whatever this time on Thursday afternoon. They're 100 % getting a better offer than they actually got. Is that the way you see it as well? 100%. I mean, we talked about, we were talking off mic about the Anthony Davis trade a little bit right before we got on and a big piece of the reporting about that trade is that this was not an open negotiation, right?

14:07People could have gotten more for a Luka Doncic if they knew that that guy was on the market. If we would have heard in May or June ahead of minicamp or coming out of minicamp, going into training camp, hey, we're probably going to be looking at dealing this guy. At least we're open to it. Send your best offer. And I think if you're thinking wisely, if you're thinking most prudently about your situation with Michael Parsons, I'm not dealing a guy that's on an expiring contract. I'm dealing a guy that I actually have three years of team control left on. I can still tag him twice after the fact.

14:38So you really have to blow me away if you want to peel this all pro player entering his prime off my roster, especially if you're going to be negotiating with teams that are in your conference. I don't know how two first round picks and a veteran gets the job done. I tweeted earlier today that two first round picks and a day two pick to me was like the bare minimum. If you even want me to pick up the phone, two first round picks and a day two pick is what it's going to take just to get me to take you seriously. And then we can start talking about what veteran player can I get maybe to make sure that all of our books are balanced and I have a guy that I might want to retain that can either show up in Micah's place or can address another need.

15:19This is way too easy. I mean, we could have sat on a podcast for 30 minutes and just thrown out deals just like this for all 32 teams. Yeah, you know, and it will all would have made the exact same amount of sense. So to me, if you're Dallas, what is this actually addressing for you? Because the chances are this pick could be anywhere from 28 to 32. Oh, yeah, Super Bowl winning team. This could be a final 14, you know, so I'm really just struggling with understanding the compensation of why they accepted it. And if you're Green Bay, this is the exact kind of team that needs to make this move. You're settled at quarterback, long-term deal.

15:53You've got a teaming offense that could break out at any time if everybody stays healthy. You've got a defense that performed way over its head last season and didn't have any star guys. You just got your star. And now you have, and you had the ability to pay a star if you could acquire one. I mean, you have to be throwing a party if you're in Wisconsin right now.

16:11Diante Lee:I'm with you. And frankly, like I've seen some of the contrarian takes out there that what did the Cowboys win with Micah Parsons? and you don't give up two first round picks for a non-quarterback. I can't believe anybody. I honestly, like I like doing, you know, we like doing the contrarian take. Yeah, let me get to the other side and see if I can. I don't know how you could do that with this trade. It's embarrassing. And here's the thing. I don't want to hear anyone make the argument that, oh, the Cowboys, you know, now they're geared up for a rebuild because they have four first round picks in the next two years.

16:41Diante Lee:And maybe they're just these analytical mastermind. That's not what happened here. If they traded him, like you said, If they traded him before the draft and got three first round picks and said, okay, I still wouldn't defend it because I don't like to let Hall of Fame players in their prime and premium positions walk out the door. That's just me, a little team building. But if they did that, then I could say, okay, at least Jerry Jones within the last two weeks tried to sit down and hammer out a contract with Micah Parsons. Now, if we see stuff about injury history or behind the scenes, I don't want to hear any of that because you wanted to keep him.

17:19Diante Lee:You just didn't know how to keep him. So yeah, I don't want to hear any of that stuff. The one thing I will say about the pool of teams is that Parsons had to want to go to the team because part of the trade had to be Parsons signing the long-term deal with the team. So he actually had control over this. And you mentioned his agent, David Mulligetta, who during the whole Deshaun Watson stuff, I mean, if you want to see how much power that guy has over the insiders and the national media, because it was embarrassing the stuff that was being put out there and it put a bad taste in my mouth. And I still don't agree with it.

17:52Diante Lee:But if you're a player and you're looking at this, you're like, he was able to control the situation and get his player out of a bad spot there. So yeah, if there was another team who called and said, Hey, we'll give you more, they could have said, no, we don't want to sign there. Now, if you're the Cowboys, you could also then say, all right, cool. Then we're not trading you to your point. We have you under contract this year and we have you for two more years with the franchise tag. So yeah, I don't like any of those justifications, but let's get to the Packers side of this. Deontay, you mentioned it earlier.

18:20Diante Lee:In your mind, what does it do in terms of raising their ceiling for this year, maybe for the next three years? I mean, how do you look at this team differently now than you did a few hours ago? You know, when we were talking last season to open the year, trying to make our predictions about what this team might be, a lot of the conversation we're having is this team goes from frisky to serious if one of these wide receivers break out and maybe they just get something out of the defense now you have taken not that's not necessarily a conversation piece that's off the board but it's so it is so much less necessary for you to meet the threshold of being a super bowl contending team you just look at the depth chart now and everything on the defense everything with this whole 53 man makes so much more sense for green bay obviously they still have losing kenny clark they will have some defensive tackle issues that they've got to work out.

19:11But truth is, Kenny Clark was probably not going to be on this roster in 2026. This was probably going to be his last year in Green Bay anyways. And the guy was on the downslope career wise based on what we saw in his prime, you know, a half decade ago or so. So if you're Green Bay, it's a win from that respect. And then the thing that I was thinking a lot about and I was trying to pull some stats up on, we talked a lot in season last year about this team performing over expectation because of what they were able to do in terms of turnovers, how many sacks they were able to get in spite of the fact that they were kind of middling in terms of pressure rate, the amount of blitzing and creative blitzing that they had to do to get to the quarterback to affect plays.

19:48The best way to get out of that world and into one that's more stable is to be able to get plays in the backfield. And you get that by having great guys up front. And they just got maybe the best young guy up front outside of like Will Anderson and Jared Burse, these guys who are rookie deals, right? So I think if you're Green Bay now, you can feel like we don't have to be experts, right? I don't need Jeff Halfley to be Brian Flores as a defensive play caller to be able to get home. If this guy wants to spend more time just rushing forward, then we can do that. And now if you're Lucas Van Ness, if you're Kingsley Anikbari, if you're any of these guys that they have been waiting to turn the corner, congratulations, you just got bumped down the pecking order and you get much better matchups now.

20:30We can do way different things for you to be productive as a player. It's a dream. I think if you're a DB, if you're another defensive lineman, knowing that Michael Parsons is on the edge because every single snap, you know, that your opposing quarterback is going to be looking as soon as the, as soon as the huddle breaks, where's number 11 and do we have bodies that can handle that guy? So I think this is a win all around for them.

20:50Diante Lee:Yeah. I love the point about just how much he helps the other players on the Packers defense. I mean, we see this all the time. Like there are certain positions, How often do we say, oh, when this left tackle's out, this offense performs way worse or right tackle? When T.J. Watts off the field for the Steelers, all the on-off splits, that's what it is. I mean, you look at Parsons, even last year, he comes back from when he was playing, their defense was in a different world than it was when he wasn't playing. And so now you're right, it just adds so much flexibility if you're the Packers. Youngest roster in the NFL, quarterback wasn't perfect last year, but you feel like he's got that ceiling.

21:26Diante Lee:You've got a coach who's had a winning record in five or six seasons, who I think we both think is one of the better coaches in the NFL. He's won 11 plus games four times. And so nobody's Reggie White. I will not say Reggie White. But if you're like a longtime Packers fan, you're looking at it. This is as close as you get, that you get one of the elite defensive players who can wreck a game, who on Monday or Tuesday, when that offense is game planning, and all right, this is where it starts with Micah Parsons. And you didn't have that guy before. you have that guy now. So I think it just helps them.

21:58Diante Lee:I already thought they were a playoff team and maybe a Super Bowl contender this year. And now you just added one of the best defensive players in football here. So I think it also kind of extends your window a little bit. Again, these types of players just are not available. There's always a catch. Even with Miles Garrett, remember early in the off season, it's like, well, he's going to turn 30. Okay, all right, a little bit older. Sometimes the guy has some injuries. Sometimes there's a flaw to his game. This type of player who's missed five games in four seasons, again, he's going to be a future Hall of Famer, is in his prime, is a game wrecker.

22:32Diante Lee:They don't become available and you were just able to land him. So unbelievable fortune for the Green Bay Packers. All right. I guess we should finish with this, Deontay, the Dallas Cowboys. And listen, if you're a Packers fan and you're like, hey, you should have given us more time. We're going to be talking about your team a lot this year. You might have from now until February. to get some time to talk about the back. Deontay and I were texting earlier. He said, I want to see the cheese head. I said, I'm going to, I think I'm going to have a lot of opportunities to put the cheese head on this year.