Would trading Micah Parsons give Cowboys owner Jerry Jones a new Herschel Walker moment?

USA Today

3 days ago

The Dallas Cowboys may be in the midst of their annual training camp sojourn to Oxnard, California. But a Texas-sized thunderhead rolled over 'America's Team' on Friday afternoon when perennial Pro Bowl pass rusher Micah Parsons requested a trade amid stagnant – to put it mildly, per Parsons – contract negotiations. The question now becomes whether this storm will leave a trail of destruction, amount to a false alarm … or maybe even be a source of disruption that somehow ends with a silver lining.
A record-setting extension for Parsons, who recently turned 26 and is entering the final year of his rookie deal, has long seemed a fait accompli – and may still be, if on Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' timeline. After all, wideout CeeDee Lamb's deal arrived close to the 11th hour last year. The Doomsday Clock nearly struck midnight before quarterback Dak Prescott got his bag the day of the team's regular-season opener in Cleveland last September, so it hardly seemed outlandish to expect it would take Parsons another month or so to break the bank.
Maybe Friday's bombshell ignites negotiations with Parsons' agent, whom has been cut out of them to date, according to the Dallas superstar. Yet maybe it necessitates a key turning point for the player and his (current) team.
Prescott and Lamb patiently waited while Jones dragged his feet before (inevitably) minting them in 2024 – yet again in the case of Prescott, who's played on a franchise tag and a pair of extensions during his nine seasons. But in a lengthy statement posted to X, Parsons wrote, among other things, 'I no longer want to play for the Dallas Cowboys' as part of a rare public break with Jones, who seemed to openly question the wisdom of a long-term megadeal at the start of camp. And Parsons' ire wasn't limited to his bank account, as he also expressed, 'I no longer want shots taken at me for getting injured while laying it on the line for the organization.'
Divorce is rarely imminent in the NFL, but these feel like irreconcilable differences, albeit in what's also clearly a heated set of circumstances.
'This is an inflection point for the Dallas Cowboys, their business practices and how they've been doing things if this young man decides, 'I'm gonna be that one player that don't just go with the (flow) and accept the contract and go back and play with the Cowboys. I'm going to request a trade and stand on it,'' former Dallas defensive lineman Marcus Spears, now an ESPN analyst living in North Texas, said Friday afternoon.
But if Parsons stands on it? Then this might also be a golden opportunity for Jones and a team that will be 30 years removed from its fifth and most recent title if it doesn't win Super Bowl 60 in February.
The benefits of extending Parsons, especially given his age and production (52½ sacks in 63 career games) are obvious, especially since he's likely about to become the unquestioned leader of the defense following the offseason departure of DeMarcus Lawrence – who, incidentally, went scorched earth on the Cowboys on his way to Seattle, saying he'd never win a Super Bowl in Dallas.
But should Jones lean into Parsons' trade request? Could he create something of another Herschel Walker moment by doing so?
Make no mistake, Parsons plays a premium position, perhaps the most important one in football aside from quarterback. But if Jones ties up a huge percentage of his salary cap in Prescott, Lamb and Parsons – they'd be playing concurrently on deals that average more than $135 million annually – then that kneecaps the team's flexibility to address other areas of the roster in meaningful ways, and this team seems to have its share of holes. Maybe paying all three could work for a brief period – think the Los Angeles Rams with the expensive trio of Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp, who led the team to victory in Super Bowl 56 – but it's not sustainable.
As for potentially dealing Parsons? If non-quarterbacks like Jalen Ramsey and Laremy Tunsil can fetch two first-round picks in a deal – and both of them did – that should be the minimum return Jones would expect for Parsons. And with the regular season still five weeks away, there's ample time to incite an even more lucrative bidding war among 31 other teams who would love to have an explosive, versatile, smart QB hunter like Parsons, who's also healthy and fresh after doing little this offseason aside from good-faith efforts as a regular presence for the offseason program and training camp as he awaited his payday.
Would Jones reap the numerous assets former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson did for Walker 36 years ago, helping lay the groundwork for the 1990s Dallas dynasty? Of course not. No team is surrendering eight premium draft picks, including three first-rounders, for anyone not named Brady or Mahomes. But could Jones get a pair of Round 1 picks and maybe a pair of Day 2 selections? Maybe? And would it be beneficial getting an influx of cost-controlled talent around Prescott, Lamb and a young offensive line in the early stages of rookie head coach Brian Schottenheimer's tenure – particularly considering vice president of player personnel Will McClay's acumen as a talent evaluator? Maybe?
There's no sugarcoating what a mess Jones has made around one of his best players, and perhaps some Myles Garrett-level rapprochement is in the offing if Jones, Parsons, and his agent can achieve a Kumbaya moment. Yet maybe current events signal to Jones' family that he needs to start delegating more responsibility after he smartly empowered Johnson all those years ago until he could no longer bear to.
What seems pretty clear, though, is that business as usual isn't working in Dallas and hasn't for three decades despite all the talented players and coaches who have been affiliated with "America's Team."
Maybe it's time for a fresh approach, like the one Johnson created so long ago, to give this team – and maybe Parsons – the fresh start all parties seem to need right now.
All NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY's 4th and Monday newsletter.