Four weeks after Micah Parsons asked for a trade from the Dallas Cowboys, only for the team's owner to say he was not interested in granting such a request, the team agreed to deal the star pass rusher in stunning trade with the Green Bay Packers just one week before the start of the NFL season.
In Green Bay, Parsons will earn the contract extension he had sought from Dallas, which had led to his trade request. The Packers have agreed to a four-year, $188 million extension with Parsons, 26, according to David Mulugheta, his agent — a contract that makes Parsons the NFL's highest-paid non-quarterback. Of the $188 million, $136 million is fully guaranteed, according to Athletes First, the agency that represents Parsons.
In return, the Cowboys will receive a 2026 first-round pick, a 2027 first-round pick and Pro Bowl DT Kenny Clark.
Parsons said in a statement on social media in part: "I never wanted this chapter to end, but not everything was in my control. My heart has always been here and it still is. Through it all, I never made any demands. I never asked for anything more than fairness. I only asked that the person I trust to negotiate my contract be part of the process.
"This is a sad day but not a bitter one. I'll never forget the joy of draft night, the adrenaline of running out of the tunnel, or the brotherhood I shared with my teammates, coaches and the staff who prepared me for every single game."
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in recent seasons has been able to resolve drawn-out contract negotiations with Dallas stars such as Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb before the season began. On Aug. 20, new Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer expressed optimism that a similar resolution would be reached with Parsons ahead of the Sept. 4 matchup between defending champion Philadelphia and Dallas that kicks off the 2025 season.
“I feel good about that,” Schottenheimer said.
What complicated matters was the role of Parsons’s agent, Mulugheta, in negotiations. On a podcast hosted by former Cowboys star Michael Irvin, Jones said he believed he’d already struck an agreement with Parsons alone.
“We had our agreements on term, amount, guarantees and everything. We were going to send it over to the agent. The agent said, ‘Don’t bother because we’ve got all that to negotiate,’” Jones said Aug. 21. “Well, I’d already negotiated that. I’d already moved off my mark on several areas. The issue, very frankly, is we’ve had the negotiation in my mind. The agent is trying to get his nose in it and trying to come in there and improve off what we’ve already said.”
Mike Tannenbaum, an ESPN analyst and former general manager of the New York Jets, said on X that it was "virtually unheard of to have a 26-year-old pass rusher in the prime of his career available in a trade" and that Dallas had hurt itself by delaying its decision.
The Cowboys will host the Packers on Sept. 28.
