Dallas Cowboys All-Professional edge rusher Micah Parsons hit the nuclear button with him and the group’s entrance workplace at an deadlock in contract talks: he has requested a commerce.
Parsons posted on Friday afternoon that he personally despatched a commerce request to Cowboys COO and EVP Stephen Jones. The 26-year-old entered the 2025 offseason hopeful about getting a long-term contract extension achieved with Jerry and Stephen Jones by getting contract talks began in a one-on-one assembly on Jan. 10. Dallas’ inactivity mixed with their latest barbs exchanged through the media have led Parsons to resolve he is had sufficient of taking part in hen along with his monetary future in Dallas.
Ought to the Cowboys truly resolve to acquiesce Parsons’ request, they might obtain a haul of picks, together with a number of first-round picks. Parsons is the primary participant since sacks started being tracked as a person statistic in 1982 to have 12 or extra sacks in every of his first 4 seasons within the NFL. Corridor of Famer Reggie White completed the feat in his first 4 seasons performed within the NFL however not in his first 4 years within the league: White was the fourth total choose within the 1984 NFL Supplemental Draft however did not start taking part in NFL soccer till the 1985 season. Parsons’ 330 quarterback pressures since coming into the NFL because the twelfth total choose within the 2021 NFL Draft are tied for probably the most within the league with Las Vegas Raiders Professional Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby, based on TruMedia.
There’s a likelihood Parsons might nonetheless be re-signed after making this commerce request. Look no additional than Myles Garrett and the Cleveland Browns this offseason. Nevertheless, the place might Parsons land if traded? Here’s a have a look at six potential touchdown spots based mostly on groups which have sufficient cap area to suit the All-Professional’s $24.007 million fifth-year possibility into their funds and Dallas’ potential willingness to deal him to stated groups. All cap area figures are based on OverTheCap.com.
2025 cap area: $59.937 million
Regardless of spending an NFL report $361 million in free company this offseason, the rebuilding New England Patriots nonetheless have cash to burn. They’ve probably the most cap area in your complete NFL at this very second (59.937 million), and so they might simply match Parsons’ fifth-year possibility or a brand new, long-term extension onto their books. These are the perks that include having quarterback Drake Maye on his rookie deal for just a few extra years.
New head coach Mike Vrabel, a former linebacker himself, would love nothing greater than to construct the id of his Patriots by the defensive aspect of the ball just like the early years of the Invoice Belichick-Tom Brady dynasty groups that he performed for within the early 2000’s. New England signed Milton Williams away from the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles and received the bidding conflict for longtime Tennessee Titans edge rusher Harold Landry III in free company. Including Parsons to play alongside these two and Christian Barmore might give the Patriots one in every of scariest defensive fronts in your complete league.
2025 cap area: $31.499 million
The Los Angeles Chargers made a large leap in 12 months 1 of the Jim Harbaugh period in 2024, going from a 5-12 group in 2023 to 11-6 this previous season and incomes a playoff berth. Nevertheless, they have been unable to trouble Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud sufficient in a 32-12 wild card spherical defeat, regardless of the Texans’ struggles to maintain Stroud upright all 12 months lengthy. In a division with Kansas City Chiefs three-time Tremendous Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, the Chargers might use as a lot move rush assist as they’ll get.
9-time Professional Bowl edge rusher Khalil Mack is on a one-year contract on the age of 34, so the Chargers will want a brand new anchor on their line of defense. Parsons, who’s eight years youthful, might definitely be that for Los Angeles for years to come back.
2025 cap area: $31.234 million
A commerce happening between the Cowboys and the Inexperienced Bay Packers, one in every of Dallas’ longtime playoff bogeymen of late, is unlikely. Nevertheless, there’s an opportunity Jerry and Stephen Jones might view sending Parsons to the smallest metropolis with a professional sports activities group in the US — Inexperienced Bay has a inhabitants of 106,311 based on 2024 United States Census Bureau knowledge — as a punishment.
Inexperienced Bay wanted their move rush to come back by at key moments all through final season, and it wasn’t ready regardless of what the group’s 45 sacks (tied for the eighth-most within the NFL) and quarterback 35.3% quarterback strain fee (thirteenth within the NFL) indicated in 2024. The Packers making this transfer for Parsons might set them as much as break by for Tremendous Bowl glory, very like their signing of Reggie White within the 1990’s did. They have been the youngest group within the NFL the final two years, and so they’ve reached the postseason in each seasons. This might be the transfer that lifts Inexperienced Bay to the subsequent degree within the Jordan Love period. It stays to be seen if the Cowboys can be keen to choose up Packers normal supervisor Brian Gutekunst’s telephone name.
Las Vegas Raiders
2025 cap area: $37.801 million
The Las Vegas Raiders are set to enter the 2025 season with the oldest head coach in NFL historical past with Pete Carroll, whose 74th birthday is on Sept. 15. Carroll and the franchise are definitely seeking to win now. That is why they traded for quarterback Geno Smith, who turns 35-years-old on Oct. 10, and drafted Ashton Jeanty, college football’s finest operating again, sixth total within the 2025 NFL Draft.
Pairing Parsons with Maxx Crosby, the participant he’s tied with for extra quarterback pressures within the NFL since 2021, would give Las Vegas probably the most fearsome move rush duo within the NFL. The Raiders are additionally accustomed to the worth crucial to accumulate a expertise like Parsons given they traded away an identical one in Khalil Mack again in 2018.
2025 cap area: $35.475 million
The Arizona Cardinals had a league common protection in 2025 below head coach Jonathan Gannon, rating fifteenth within the NFL in scoring protection (22.3 factors per sport allowed). They have been aggressive in working to grow to be a high 10 unit this offseason, signing former Gannon protege Josh Sweat away from the Tremendous Bowl champion Eagles, signing franchise legend Calais Campbell, drafting Ole Miss’ Walker Nolen within the first spherical and drafting Michigan All-American cornerback Will Johnson within the second spherical.
Buying and selling for Parsons might vault Arizona again to playoff rivalry after lacking the postseason for the final three years. The Cardinals even have only one playoff look (2021) within the final 9 seasons. A younger, hungry group like this might make an excellent commerce accomplice for Parsons.
2025 cap area: $29.624 million
A commerce to the New York Giants is out of the query, however a commerce to New York’s AFC group might make sense. The Jets simply locked down two key items of their core this offseason by re-signing broad receiver Garrett Wilson and cornerback Sauce Gardner. Including one other younger, elite expertise in Parsons might be precisely what the Jets have to get their mojo again in 12 months 1 below new head coach Aaron Glenn. They’ve simply the correct quantity of cap area to get the deal achieved, and reinforcing their protection to assist a gifted however inconsistent quarterback in Justin Fields can be harking back to the mildew from the height Rex Ryan years in 2009 and 2010.