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.
Micah Parsons was an hour late to his own news conference.
The star edge rusher had to pass his physical, sign his contract and meet some of his new co-workers. It’s a big day for Parsons and the Packers.
Parsons said he did not expect to be traded by Dallas but was happy to land in Green Bay.
“Honestly everything happens for a reason,” Parsons said Friday, via video from the team. “It’s a blessing in disguise. . . . I’m going to work hard every day to prove the Packers organization made the right decision in trusting in me. I’m going to carry that with me.”
Parsons said he had no say in where he landed after the Cowboys decided to trade him.
“I didn’t have any say,” Parsons said. “I would say I’m pretty lucky, because I understand the rich history of the Packers. The fact that they had interest in me and understanding that they had a pretty tough team already in the NFC, and I was pretty much geared up to play them looking for revenge. Now, I’m on the other side of adding to this rich history. I’m ready to play with these to suit up and play. I’m very excited.”
The trade, which sent Kenny Clark and two first-round picks to the Cowboys, was a win-win for the Packers and Parsons.
The Packers have acquired a generational pass rusher, who joined Reggie White as the only players ever to have 12 sacks in each of their first four NFL seasons. Parsons received his generational pay day, signing a four-year extension that has a five-year total base payout of $210.034 million, with up to $2 million in incentives/escalators.
Now, Parsons will try to do for the Packers what White did for the Packers four years after he signed with the team.
“Winning is everything to me,” Parsons said. “I don’t think you’re going to find a more competitive person. . . . So when you talk about winning on this stage and what it takes, I haven’t been there. I don’t know what it takes. But I’ve got a funny feeling that this program does. They went further than us, and obviously had a big win against us. I trust coach [Matt] LaFleur, and I really feel like we can do it. I really want to win real bad.”
In the 1993 offseason, the Packers signed star edge rusher Reggie White to a four-year, $17 million contract. It changed the fortunes of the franchise.
The Packers won the Super Bowl in 1996.
In his six seasons with the Packers, White never had fewer than eight sacks and averaged 11.
The Packers’ trade for star edge rusher Micah Parsons has drawn comparisons, but White was 32 when he arrived in Green Bay. Parsons is 26.
General Manager Brian Gutekunst didn’t arrive in Green Bay until 1999, the year after White retired, but he was asked about the parallels between the team’s acquisitions of generational pass rushers three decades apart.
“I don’t think there’s really any parallels at all,” Gutekunst said Friday, via video from the team. “Again, I wasn’t here, so it’s hard for me really to compare that. A different time. I think the Packers organization was in a different space at that time. So, I can’t really comment on that.
“Micah’s his own man, and he’s going to forge his own path here. But I think he’s going to be a really, really good fit for our locker room, a really good fit for our team. But, yeah, that was a little before me.”
Parsons could be the missing piece for the Packers, though, as White was. They are the only players in NFL history to have at least 12 sacks in each of their first four seasons.
The Packers sent defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first-round picks to the Cowboys for Parsons.
“Obviously a player like Micah, he’s very unique and very rare is it that they’re available,” Gutekunst said. “So as this kind of came together, it was just one of those things where it was a unique opportunity to it. It was going to cost. There was going to be some expense to it. But we just kind of thought it was the best thing for our team. We’re excited to get him. We’re excited to get him out there and get him with our team, so he can get up to speed as fast as possible.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones insists he didn’t make the decision to trade Micah Parsons alone. He called it a “unanimous decision,” and coach Brian Schottenheimer confirmed Friday that he signed off on the deal that sent the star edge rusher to Green Bay.
“We just went through the whole process. At the end of the day, this was unanimous decision,” Schottenheimer said, via video from the team. “This is not something we came about; it wasn’t something where it was like an overnight thing. We had talked about it, and at the end of the day, I think when you look at a football team, when you can potentially add up to four or five players and things like that, it gives you the ability to do some things. We were certainly excited about the addition of Kenny Clark. I’ve played against Kenny and he is very, very disruptive inside. When we looked at it, it was something that, at the end of the day, when you get a chance to get things back in return that you’re excited about, you make the move. Obviously, at the end of the day, we’ve got to maximize the picks that we have, and that will be the plan.”
Schottenheimer said he was “confident” all along that Parsons would be back with the Cowboys, playing Week 1 against the Eagles. Instead, Parsons will play for the Packers against the Lions on opening day.
While Jones said Thursday he is “absolutely zero worried” about the reaction in the locker room, Schottenheimer said he called 12-14 team leaders after the trade. He also spoke to the entire team Friday morning.
“Nothing’s changed. My goals haven’t changed. Our team goals haven’t changed,” Schottenheimer said. “I hit the players on that today after I talked about the tough couple of days for all the guys. It doesn’t change. The standard is the standard. I said that. With all the new pieces and people we had in there, I needed to hit the goal, which is to win a world’s championship. I needed to hit that we also want to build one of the greatest professional sports cultures in the world.”
The Cowboys lost a generational talent who made the Pro Bowl in all four of his seasons in Dallas. He averaged 13 sacks. But the Cowboys believe they have enough talent to replace Parsons with an edge rush by committee.
No matter what anyone else outside The Star thinks, the Cowboys are convinced the trade made them better in the short term and long term. Time will tell.
“I would say Micah is an incredible player. Nobody disputes that. He’s a great player,” Schottenheimer said. “This is the ultimate team game. You know, it’s the ultimate team game. We’re not going to win a championship with just one person. It’s going to take variations of the 69 guys plus that we have on this roster. Injuries are a part of this. We’ve built our depth up and we’ve done those things. . . . At the end of the day, this is the greatest team sport in the world, and to do that you have to have the pieces in place, and I think we have a lot of good players in place.”
Oddsmakers don’t feel the same. The Cowboys over-under dropped from 7.5 wins to 6.5 wins post-trade, while their NFC East odds remained about the same. Their NFC title odds went from +2000 to +3000 and their Super Bowl odds dropped from +5000 to +6000.
Micah Parsons finally got paid. Not by Jerry Jones, but by the stockholders of the Green Bay Packers, Inc.
Here’s a look at the full details of the deal, per a source with knowledge of the terms:
1. Signing bonus: $44 million, with $20 million paid within 10 days and $24 million paid by December 26.
2. 2025 base salary: $1.17 million.
3. 2026 option bonus: $38 million, fully guaranteed.
4. 2026 offseason workout bonus: $250,000.
5. 2026 base salary: $2.387 million, fully guaranteed.
6. 2026 per-game active roster bonus: $200,000.
7. 2027 option bonus: $34.433 million, fully guaranteed.
8. 2027 offseason workout bonus: $250,000.
9. 2027 base salary: $3.017 million, guaranteed for injury at signing, and fully guaranteed by early 2026.
10. 2027 per-game active roster bonus: $200,000.
11. 2028 option bonus: $27.5 million.
12. 2028 offseason workout bonus: $250,000.
13. 2028 base salary: $13.05 million, $12.9 million of which is guaranteed for injury and beyond fully guaranteed in 2027.
14. 2028 per-game active roster bonus: $200,000.
15. 2029 90-man roster bonus: $1 million.
16. 2029 offseason workout bonus: $250,000.
17. 2029 base salary: $43.55 million.
18. 2029 per-game active roster bonus: $200,000.
The contract includes a $250,000 Pro Bowl escalator in 2027 through 2029, and a $250,000 All-Pro incentive in 2027 through 2029. Each is based on earning the distinction in the prior year.
He also has a $250,000 incentive for making the Pro Bowl in 2029, and a $250,000 incentive for making the All-Pro team.
So what is the deal worth? It depends on whether he was viewed as a linebacker or as a defensive end. As a defensive end, the new-money APY is $47.17 million. As a linebacker, the new-money APY is $46.5 million.
The five-year deal has a total base payout of $210.034 million, with up to $2 million in incentives/escalators.
The full guarantee at signing is $120 million, which covers all of the first three years, except $3.107 million. That’s significant; the Packers rarely fully guarantee payments beyond the first year.
They’ve made an exception only three times: for Parsons, Jordan Love, and Aaron Rodgers.
The magnitude of the contract, combined with the compensation given to the Cowboys (two first-round picks and Kenny Clark) shows how badly the Packers wanted him.
Basically, they wanted him a lot more badly than the Cowboys did.
