Jerry Jones compared the Micah Parsons trade to the Herschel Walker trade that set the stage for the Dallas Cowboys' three-Super Bowl dynasty in the '90s.
"I want to be sure that our fans understand," Jones said Thursday evening alongside his son and right-hand man, Stephen Jones, during the longtime owner and general manager's news conference at The Star.
"I think a lot of Micah and I wish him so much success — I don't want him to have success when he plays the Cowboys as much as I do want him to have overall success. But Micah Parsons did an outstanding job for us for four years, and a little bit of the way Herschel Walker may have had his greatest contribution to the Cowboys, what he brought to us when he left could be a tremendous thing for our fans and the success of this team."
Dallas sent Parsons to the Green Bay Packers in exchange for a pair of first-round picks and three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark.
For reference, the in-season trade that sent Cowboys running back Herschel Walker — along with third- and 10th-round picks in 1990 and a third-round pick in 1991 — to the Minnesota Vikings in 1989, in return, gave Dallas five players (linebackers Jesse Solomon and David Howard, cornerback Issiac Holt, defensive end Alex Stewart and running back Darrin Nelson, who was traded to the Chargers for a fifth-round pick) plus a zoo of picks: first, second, and sixth rounders in 1990; first and second rounders in 1991; and first, second and third rounders in 1992.
Walker never hit the 1,000-yard rushing mark with the Vikings, and the Cowboys deployed their new collection of draft picks to help construct the league's next dynasty.
Dallas, of course, is still searching for its first Super Bowl since that three-championship run.
What Jerry was looking for?
Jones explained what he was looking for when finding a trade partner.
"We only picked teams that had room on their cap that could pay Micah, and we only picked teams that had top interior tackles that we wanted to have any dialogue with at all about a trade," Jones said.
"That was the criteria of trading."
Clark has made the Pro Bowl in 2019, 2021 and 2023. He's also turning 30 in October.
Jones stressed the importance of finding an elite defensive tackle who could assist the Cowboys in shoring up their recent deficiencies against the run (Dallas allowed the fourth-most rushing yards of any team in the league last season).
He also emphasized that, while his team will lose Parsons' pass rush talent, he believes Dallas is deep enough on the edge to withstand his departure, and he discussed opponents trying to mitigate Parsons' sack-hunting skill set by running the football at him.
"This was a very deliberate reflection on a key player that could bring us a lot of consideration: a lot of consideration now in 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," Jones said Thursday.
"It takes many players, to be trite, to play in the NFL. It takes 11 on the field at the same time, it takes a minimum of 30 or 40 to have both defense and offense, not including players that are involved in our special teams. So it takes more than one. And so you do have to allocate your resources, whether it be draft picks or whether it be finances. You have to allocate those resources."
Jones added: "There was no question in our mind that Micah could bring us a lot of resources on a trade that has been on my mind since we hired Brian [Schottenheimer as head coach in late January]."
How this all went down...
Parsons signed a four-year, $188 million deal with the Packers Thursday, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, who reported that the star edge rusher will receive $136 million in guaranteed money.
The 26-year-old will enter the 2025 season with a $47 million average salary, making him the new highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.
Parsons was in the fifth and final year of his rookie contract and was seeking an extension that valued the impact he's brought to Dallas in the form of four straight Pro Bowl seasons with 12-plus sacks.
After the Parsons trade news dropped, NFL Network's Jane Slater reported that she spoke with the three-time All-Pro Thursday evening.
She noted that Parsons told her that he's "genuinely gonna miss y'all" and that he and his team went back to the Cowboys about an extension with "empathy" after trade interest was leaked this week.
Parsons reportedly informed her that the Cowboys' response was "play on the fifth year or leave."
Jones appeared to confirm this reported exchange during his Thursday news conference.
"There's no question that I could have signed him in April, and so we all know that, to have agreements, all parties have to agree," Jones said earlier in the news conference Thursday.
"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. ... There's not an ounce of vindictiveness. There's no bad feelings on my part about the fact that we didn't come together on an agreement."
After Jones offered what appears to have been a handshake deal with Parsons this spring, the high-water mark for defensive players was reset, with Pittsburgh Steelers sack artist T.J. Watt notably earning $108 million guaranteed in his three-year, $123 million extension last month.
Throughout August, Parsons requested a trade, scrubbed his social media of any Cowboys mentions and flashed a "call me" gesture at a fan who told him to come to the Falcons before a preseason finale in Arlington, Texas, during which Parsons briefly laid down on an athletic training table and closed his eyes.
Although Parsons reported to Cowboys training camp at the end of July, he still hasn't practiced this summer. He was dealing with a back injury, but Schottenheimer told reporters Tuesday that, "at this time," Parsons is cleared medically to practice.
The bottom line
Jones explicitly said more good things about Parsons Thursday while implicitly taking additional shots at his run defense and his durability.
He didn't downplay what Parsons brought to the table in Dallas, but he preferred to underscore the value Parsons brought to the trade market, and how that value can help the Cowboys both now and in the future.
"Not only do we immediately get a player, but those draft picks could get us top Pro bowl-type players. Could. ... You're going to be quick to say, 'You won't necessarily get those players. You got to draft them or acquire them.' But they could get us as few as three or as many as five outstanding players.
"Now, not only do they contribute in a game that needs a lot of players on the field ... but they also give you better odds that a high percentage of those are going to be available, just from the standpoint of attrition or from the standpoint of just sheer limit on how far one player can go."
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