If you surveyed 100, or even 1,000 Dallas Cowboys fans, the vast majority of them would say they would undo the Micah Parsons trade if they could go back in time. But since time machines only exist in outdated movies, the Cowboys have to live with the consequences of dealing the star pass-rusher.
But Colin Cowherd is in the minority in that he liked the decision from Jerry Jones, a take he has defended from the beginning. On his show on FS1, Cowherd praised Dallas' direction on the defensive side of the football and believes this trade opened the floodgates for the way their defense looks currently.
"This is why I totally supported the Micah Parsons trade that everybody went nuts over," Cowherd said... And I said 'If you sign Micah Parsons, with CeeDee Lamb and Dak, you have no flexibility'...There are so few defensive guys I'm paying $148-168M to and Micah's great but he's not one of them."
Since that trade, he mentioned the Cowboys managing to add Rashan Gary, Kenny Clark, Quinnen Williams, and now Caleb Downs to the defense, which they couldn't have done if they were paying $47M a year until 2029. At the time, the Packers made him the highest-paid non-QB in NFL history.
Is the Dallas Cowboys' defense better off without Micah Parsons?
Cowherd failed to mention the acquisitions of guys like Dee Winters, Jalen Thompson, Cobie Durant, and their defense-heavy draft beyond Downs. Malachi Lawrence. Devin Moore. Jaishawn Barnham. LT Overton. They are investing in the defense in ways they never thought possible with Parsons.
Frankly, Cowherd's argument is pretty sound. He wasn't going to be the piece that took the Cowboys' defense over the top and turn them from Super Bowl contenders. They were better suited gutting the defense from the ground up and fully committing to give Christian Parker an elite defensive nucleus.
Cowherd noted that between elite pass-rushers Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, and Maxx Crosby, they're a combined 1-8 in the playoffs. He likened Micah to an elite reliever in New York Yankees' great Mariano Rivera. He's someone you love to have close the door when a team is leading in the fourth quarter.
Parsons was a Defensive Player of the Year finalist before suffering a season-ending injury in Week 15. He elevated the Packers' defense with his presence. In fact, he'll do that for any defense, but given his issues as a run defender, he may not be worth the money elite pass-rushers are starting to get.
The defense has significantly more talent now than it did with the Penn State product--and still has another 2027 first-round pick from Green Bay they could use. The pass rush has a rotation of good guys rather than one elite one, and the improved secondary means Jerry Jones doesn't need to get ideas from Back to the Future when the only person still mad is Parsons himself.
Add us as a preferred source on Google