Current Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer will never (at least while he still has that job) share his true thoughts on the decision to trade linebacker Micah Parsons to the Packers. Former Cowboys coach Jason Garrett had no qualms about sharing his unvarnished reaction to Thursday’s stunning move.
“I was shocked,” Garrett said on Friday’s PFT Live. “You know, the most important player on a football team is the quarterback. The second most important player on a football team is the guy who can negatively affect the quarterback. And those guys are hard to come by, and ever since that guy has come into the league, he has been a dominant player.
“And you and I have talked about this a lot, Mike — he’s transformative. He changes the whole team. If you think about the Cowboys in 2020, they were 6-10, they weren’t a very good team, and then he gets there along with defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, and all of a sudden, they’re a different team. And if you look at all those interceptions that their DBs were making, [DaRon] Bland and [Trevon] Diggs and you’re intercepting them and running back for touchdowns . . . look what’s going on around the quarterback on those throws.
“Micah Parsons is the guy causing all the problems, and those guys are hard to come by. If you think about, you know, four years, 52 sacks, he and Reggie White, being used in the same sentences. He’s an impactful player, and I was shocked that they let him out of the building.”
If you’ve watched the excellent Netflix docuseries on the Cowboys of the 1990s, it’s clear that the arrival of pass rusher Charles Haley changed everything. And, before Micah arrived, the Cowboys had been trying to find another Charles Haley.
They finally got one. They decided not to pay him. They decided to try to kick the can of his fifth-year option. They stepped on a rake instead, alienating the player and setting up a “hurt back” stare down that resulted in the Cowboys declaring victory and retreating.
The defense will retreat without him. The team will have a harder time succeeding. And the Packers will be the beneficiaries of that.
Packers quarterback Jordan Love appeared on Micah Parsons’ podcast during Super Bowl week and said he wanted Parsons to join him on the Packers. At the time, few thought that could happen.
Now that it has happened, Parsons was asked about Love’s recruiting him to Green Bay and said it wasn’t a serious discussion because at that time, Parsons thought he’d sign a long-term contract to remain in Dallas, and not get traded.
“I don’t think it was ever a serious conversation because I never thought I’d be traded, but that’s the harsh reality. Me and Jordan, we’re super close, having the same agent,” Parsons said. “We’ve got a very good relationship.”
Parsons was traded by the Cowboys for the Packers’ next two first-round picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark. That’s a win-now move by the Packers, and that’s what Parsons is in Green Bay to do.
“Winning means everything to me,” Parsons said. “I don’t think you’re going to find a more competitive person on the team or in the NFL.”
The Packers got a great player when they traded for Micah Parsons this week, but Kenny Clark plans to show that the Cowboys got a good player in the deal, too.
Clark, a defensive tackle who spent his entire nine-year career in Green Bay until he was traded along with two first-round picks to Dallas this week, says he’s a better player than he showed last season. Clark told Jane Slater that he suffered a foot injury in Week One of last season and was playing through it for the rest of the year.
“I was playing through bone spurs last year, hurt it in the Brazil game,” he said. “All that stuff is behind me and I’m excited to hit the ground running. I’ve got a lot to prove this year and I’m excited to prove that.”
The 29-year-old Clark is a three-time Pro Bowler, and even with the injury he started all 17 games for the Packers last season. And the Cowboys are optimistic that he’ll be a healthier player and a better player this year.
Micah Parsons wore No. 11 at Penn State, where he became a consensus All-American. He wore No. 11 with the Cowboys, where he made 52.5 sacks in four seasons.
Wide receiver Jayden Reed already had No. 11 in Green Bay, so Parsons will wear No. 1 after the trade from Dallas.
“I’m going with No. 1,” Parsons said Friday at his introductory news conference.
He will become the first Packers player to wear the number since Curly Lambeau in 1925 and 1926. The namesake of Green Bay’s stadium is the only player in franchise history to wear No. 1.
Parsons had polled his followers about whether he should choose No. 0 or No. 1, and he did not indicate why he had chosen No. 1.
Micah Parsons hasn’t practiced since last season. He will practice for the first time with his new team Monday.
The back tightness that the star edge rusher sometimes cited during his hold in for his reason not to practice disappeared in the trade to the Packers.
“Physically, I’m great,” Parsons said during his introductory news conference in Green Bay on Friday. “I think I can contribute a lot. I’m going to team up with the doctors and create a plan. We already talked about how we can ramp me up and get me in a flow where they feel comfortable and I feel comfortable.
“My plan is to be here. They didn’t give up what they gave up for me to sit on the sidelines.”
The Cowboys had Parsons undergo an MRI on his back which came up “pretty clean,” according to coach Brian Schottenheimer earlier this week. Schottenheimer said Tuesday that Parsons was cleared medically to practice “at this time.”
Parsons had his back examined by a back specialist this week ahead of the trade, reassuring the Packers. He passed his physical Friday and signed his contract, making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.
“He made me feel fairly confident that [the back tightness] is certainly not a long-term problem,” Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst said before Parsons’ physical was completed. “It’s something he’ll work through pretty quickly, we would think.”
The Packers are optimistic, despite Parsons’ lack of practice time and lack of knowledge of the team’s defense, that he will contribute in “some form or fashion” in the opener.
