Micah Parsons traded from Cowboys to Packers: What Jerry Jones said at his press conference

Jerry Jones spent much of the offseason talking about -- but not to -- Micah Parsons, and many of those talks proved unproductive. On April 1 at the NFL annual meetings, Jones disclosed that he had talked to Parsons plenty but that he wasn't worried about talking to an agent and in fact he didn't even know the name of Parsons' agent. Parsons shot back, via X, that he wouldn't do any deal without the involvement of his agent, David Mulugheta, and a stalemate ensued.

Four months to the day after the first signs of contentiousness emerged, Parsons, then holding in at training camp, requested a trade with a lengthy post. He no longer wanted to negotiate without an agent, he didn't want to be on a team that took shots at him for being injured (which Jones did in July), and the Cowboys' unwillingness to work with Mulugheta was unacceptable.

Jones said many times over the course of the offseason that he had no plans to trade Parsons. Then Thursday came. The Cowboys made one of the most stunning trades in NFL history, sending Parsons to the Packers in exchange for two draft picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark. In his press conference after the trade, Jones even smiled and thanked the media for writing up the headline that he hadn't planned to trade Parsons, as it was part of his negotiation tactics, but the move still comes as a shocker.

Parsons was a Pro Bowler each of his first four seasons. He and Reggie White are the only players with at least 12 sacks in each of their first four seasons. Parsons is on a Hall-of-Fame trajectory. Plus, even though it had taken a long time before, Jones had figured out deals with stars in similar situations: quarterback Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb.

That wasn't the result this time, though. Here are four key takeaways from Jones' lengthy answer to the simple question: Why did you trade away Micah Parsons?

Jones praises Kenny Clark, says stopping the run is a priority

"Without being too broad, obviously, we did think it was in the best interest of our organization, not only the future, but right now, this season as well," Jones opened. "We've gained a Pro Bowl player in an area that we had big concerns in, on the inside of our defense."

Clark is indeed a Pro Bowl player if you go back to 2023 (as well as 2021 and 2019). He has also been a durable player, having played in 17 games each of the last three seasons. The Cowboys allowed 4.8 yards per carry last season, fourth-worst in the NFL.

"We feel like when you look at, you know, the frustration is we hadn't been able to win the big game in the playoffs, and we think it is a direct connection to not being able to stop the run," Jones said.

Here's more on Clark and the fit:

• Jones said he and the organization only considered teams that could provide a suitable contract extension for Parsons and a strong interior player. The Packers suited both.
• Jones believes adding a strong run stopper can help offset losing a strong pass rusher.
• "If the pass rush doesn't get you ahead pretty big time, and you're playing even or behind, then you've really got a problem in stopping the run," Jones said. "And so we have felt as we embark on changing things."
• Clark ranked 39th among 85 interior defensive linemen in Pro Football Focus' rushing defense grades. Earlier in his career, he had been among the elite interior run defenders in the league, and Dallas is clearly hoping he can rediscover that form.
• "You can scheme pressure as well, and I think [defensive coordinator Matt] Eberflus has been really good at that in terms of using scheme to get pressure on the quarterback," Jerry Jones' son Stephen said. "But what's tough to scheme is to stop the run."

No bad feelings between Jones, Parsons

Even though he called him "Michael" on multiple occasions, Jerry Jones repeated several times that there were no bad feelings between himself and Parsons, and that he even talked with Parsons' mother for an extended period during a preseason game.

"I want to tell you that I really like Micah," Jones said. "I appreciate the years, four years that we've had him here. And he's a great player. and so we are very appreciative of the fact that he's a great player."

"... 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."

• Jones called Parsons' pass rushing abilities "extraordinary."
• "Micah's never been anything but so pleasant for me to be around," Jones said. "I want to be real clear about it an authentic supplies that it's not. Things are good here. Things are good here. We have just decided that it was in the best interest of our team to take the consideration that we have. We appreciate his four years."
• Jones said he didn't pay any mind to Parsons lying on a training table during the preseason finale.

Micah Parsons, Packers' greatest acquisition since Reggie White, should similarly transform Green Bay defense

Zachary Pereles

Emphasis on number of players, flexibility

A third key Jerry Jones hit on was the idea that it takes more than one player to have a good football team.

"Not only do we immediately get a player, but those draft picks could get us ... Pro Bowl-type players," Jones said. "You won't necessarily get those players; you got to draft them or acquire. 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, not to be elementary, but they also give you better odds that they're 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."

• Jones did mention that maybe the team doesn't even end up using the 2026 and 2027 first-round picks they acquired. They could be used to acquire other top-end talent as soon as this year.
• Jones even compared this trade to the infamous Herschel Walker trade, in which the Cowboys ended up acquiring -- through various other moves -- Emmitt Smith and Darren Woodson, backbones of the team's 1990s dynasty.

Lots of newness, but still plans to win now

"[In] our judgment, this gives us a better chance to be a better team than we have been the last few several years," Jones said.

While that may be a stretch considering Dallas won 12 games in each of Parsons' first three seasons, Jones was adamant that this isn't a backing away from wanting to win now.

"The minute that we saw that we were quite possibly were going to have an issue about whether or not we could do a contract or not, that gave us time, that gave us imagineering," Jones said. "That, coupled with bringing in a new coach and bringing in a new staff, we felt it fit for us to have more players, more excellent players, if we do a good job of acquiring those players, plus have a team this year that would give us a better chance -- dare I say that -- but absolutely it's not a it's not a zero that we're dealing with as far as how much better that we were trying to be, even not having Micah."

• Jones noted that there is a significant amount of roster churn, with roughly one-third of the roster acquired since the end of last season.
• But he also noted that with Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb in place, the team needs to stop the run and get the ball back to the offense.
• Jones said he was proud to have made Prescott the highest-paid player in the NFL, and that Prescott's contract did play a role here, but he's not sure that it would have definitely pushed it one way or the other.