Micah Parsons trade grades: Packers acquire All-Pro defender in his prime, Cowboys eye future with multiple first-rounders
Very rarely are All-Pro-caliber players traded in their primes. League rules and contract structures typically prevent it, with stars either changing teams in free agency or finding ways to stay with their original squads.
That wasn’t the case Thursday, when one of the most consequential deals in NFL history took shape.
The Packers acquired superstar pass rusher Micah Parsons from the Cowboys, bringing a dramatic saga between the defender and his longtime Dallas squad to an end. Leading into Thursday, it remained a question whether Jerry Jones and company would actually consider trading Parsons, a 26-year-old on a Hall of Fame trajectory.
Parsons did ask to be moved from Dallas, seeking a lucrative extension that the team failed to give him, but it was still stunning when the superstar got his wish via a trade to Green Bay on Thursday evening. Parsons then immediately agreed to a record-breaking extension with the Packers and is now poised to become a focal point of the franchise for years to come. The Cowboys, meanwhile, said goodbye to a superstar but still managed to net significant draft capital in return.