Are Cowboys playing 'if' game regarding Micah Parsons trade amid defensive woes?

The Dallas Cowboys traded star pass-rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for two first-round draft picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark in late August. Dallas then fell to 3-4-1 on the season ahead of Week 9. 

Previously, first-year Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer acknowledged he didn't "really know" if his struggling defense would be playing better this fall had the club held onto Parsons. On Monday, Todd Archer of ESPN shared how current Dallas players feel about the Parsons-sized elephant that continues to hover over the organization. 

Cowboys won't go down Micah Parsons "rabbit hole" amid defensive struggles

"He's a great player, definitely, but you can't really play the 'if' game," Cowboys defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa said about the Parsons trade. "That's not something that you can ever do in life because that's a rabbit hole that goes on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever."

ESPN stats show that the Cowboys will head into their "Monday Night Football" home game versus the Arizona Cardinals (2-5) ranked second in the NFL in yards gained per contest (384.1) and in points scored per game (30.8). That said, Dallas is also allowing the second-most yards (404.6) and points (31.3) per matchup. 

As part of acquiring Parsons, the Packers handed him a four-year, $188M contract that included $136M guaranteed. There's no indication that Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones was willing to make such a financial commitment to Parsons before the trade went down. 

"Like the way I look at it is bury the dead, feed the living," Odighizuwa continued. "What is done is done. And you have to make the best of what you have in front of you." 

Will Cowboys try to acquire Bengals' Trey Hendrickson before trade deadline? 

Numerous stories previously linked the Cowboys with Cincinnati Bengals pass-rusher Trey Hendrickson, who is in the final year of his existing deal. A Sunday update hinted that Cincinnati could be willing to accept the right offer for Hendrickson's services before the trade deadline arrives at 4 p.m. ET this coming Tuesday. 

"Sources close to the situation say the Cowboys have been actively monitoring the trade market for potentially available defensive players for several weeks," Archer wrote. "In recent years, the Cowboys have trended toward judicious trade-deadline acquisitions -- younger players signed for multiple years as opposed to those on expiring contracts. ...So acquiring a player such as Cincinnati defensive end Trey Hendrickson on an expiring contract would be a departure from the team's normally deliberate trade approach."

In short, it sounds like insiders believe Dallas won't make any kind of "'Godfather' offer" for Hendrickson before Tuesday evening. As of Monday morning, ESPN BET had the Cowboys as 3.5-point favorites over the Cardinals for the final game of Week 9.