After the shocking trade that the Dallas Cowboys made yesterday with the Green Bay Packers, which sent four-time Pro Bowler Micah Parsons to Green Bay in exchange for two first-round draft picks and three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and chief operating officer Stephen Jones (Jerry’s eldest son) held a press conference where they discussed how and why they made the stunning move.
“Obviously, we did think it was in the best interest of our organization. Not only the future, but right now, this season as well,” Jerry Jones told members of the media last night. “We’ve gained a Pro Bowl player. We’ve gained a Pro Bowl player in an area that we had big concern in or concerns in on the inside of our defense.”
Jones continued by saying that he thinks highly of Micah Parsons. And though he tried to get a deal done with the 26-year-old pass rusher, the two sides were not able to come to an agreement.
“I really like Micah. I appreciate the four years that we’ve had him here, and he’s a great player. So we are very appreciative of the fact that he’s a great player,” Jones said. “There’s no question that I could have signed him in April. We all know that to have agreements, all parties have to agree, but this was by design. I did make Micah an offer. It wasn’t acceptable, and I honor the fact that it wasn’t done in the way that he wanted to do it: through an agent.”
According to The Sporting News’ Billy Heyen, the Cowboys offered Micah Parsons a five-year contract worth $202.5 million, which equates to $40.5 million annually. However, the Packers’ deal was for four years and $188 million, according to sources that spoke to ESPN, an average annual value of $47 million.
“There’s not an ounce of vindictiveness,” Jones explained. “There’s no bad feelings on my part about the fact that we didn’t come together on an agreement.”
Jerry Jones mentioned how the Cowboys have had an incredibly difficult time defending against the run in recent years. At this point in the press conference, Jones began accidentally referring to Micah Parsons as Michael.
“The facts are, specifically, we need to stop the run, and we haven’t been able to stop the run at key times for several years,” he said. “And when you have the kind of extraordinary pass rush that Michael had, then the way to mitigate that pass rush is to run at you. If the pass rush doesn’t get you ahead pretty big time, and you’re playing even or behind, then you’ve really got a problem in stopping the run… This was a very deliberate reflection on a key player that could bring us a lot of consideration. A lot of consideration now, and the player that we got that can help us stop the run, and a lot of consideration in the future. A lot of capital that is required to build a team.”
Jerry Jones added that he had been thinking about moving on from Micah Parsons since Brian Schottenheimer was named the team’s head coach on January 24th, 2025. Once again, Jones incidentally referred to Micah Parsons as Michael.
“You do have to allocate your resources. Whether it be draft picks or whether it be finances, you have to allocate those resources,” he explained. “There was no question in our mind that Michael could bring us a lot of resources on a trade. That has been on my mind since we hired Brian.”
Jones jokingly claimed that the media attention around the contentious contract negotiations between the Cowboys and Parsons helped the trade with Green Bay come together.
“As it turns out, all the publicity about not having a contract – certainly, you did your part in making sure that it was known that he was potentially available,” he said. “I appreciate that very much, and I say that a little tongue in cheek.”
Jerry Jones was also very excited about the prospect of landing top-flight talent with the draft picks that the Cowboys got in the trade. This was a rather odd statement to make, considering Micah Parsons has been to four straight Pro Bowls and been named an All-Pro three times since coming into the league in 2021.
“Not only do we immediately get a player, but those draft picks could get us, I’m talking, top Pro Bowl type players,” Jones said. “They could get us as few as three or as many as five outstanding players.”
Stephen Jones defended the trade, adding that Kenny Clark is a Pro Bowl-caliber player who still has a lot of gas left in the tank.
“Kenny Clark is a big part of this,” he clarified. “That was a big part of winning right now… We hadn’t been able to win the big games in the playoffs, and we think it is a direct connection to not being able to stop the run. And we think Kenny Clark is going to be a big piece to that. We felt like, because of our depth on the edge, as well as the ability to scheme pressure, that we could make up for Micah because, obviously, he’s elite at rushing the passer.”
To close out the press conference, Jerry Jones discussed how he is trying to shake things up and handle the NFL’s most valuable franchise differently because the Cowboys have only won five playoff games since the start of the 1996-97 season.
“This gives us the best chance,” he concluded. “And our fans, as well as my mirror, is saying, ‘Come on, let’s change something up. Let’s do something a little different here.’ Well, how about Brian Shottenheimimer? How about loading up with some resources of cap room and draft picks? And how about bringing on those kinds of changes? How about philosophically doing our defense a little different? How about bringing in some better blocking on the offensive line? We have done all of that, and this is a part of it.”
In six days, the Cowboys kick off the 2025-26 regular season against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. That game will begin at 8:20 p.m. EDT.
