Blockbuster Proposed Trade Ships Falcons Projected Recording-Breaking Pass Rusher

With mock draft season reaching the home stretch, ESPN has been devising new creative ways to conduct hypothetical mocks.

First, ESPN's Mike Tannenbaum played general manager for all 32 teams in a mock on March 25. Then to end the month, ESPN's Bill Barnwell put together a mock draft that was entirely trades.

The Atlanta Falcons were all over Barnwell's trade mock draft. Most notably, Barnwell suggested the Falcons acquire Dallas Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons.

Barnwell proposed the Falcons land Parsons in a three-team trade involving the Cowboys and Cleveland Browns. In the hypothetical deal, the Cowboys received the No. 2 overall pick from the Browns and the No. 15 overall selection from the Falcons. The Browns received the No. 12 selection from Dallas, Atlanta's 2026 first-round pick and another 2026 choice from Dallas. The Falcons received Parsons.

From the Falcons perspective, they gave up two first-round picks in exchange for Parsons.

"If there's any team desperate for a proven edge rusher, it's the Falcons. They played a peripheral role in my other three-way trade projection, but they're in a much more important spot here," Barnwell wrote. "Trading for Parsons is tough to handle considering Atlanta is already $13 million over the salary cap, but it could move money around when it moves on from Cousins. After this year, the Falcons should have the cap space to absorb a massive Parsons extension.

"It shouldn't be tough to structure a deal that gives him a significant bonus up front (to keep his 2025 cap number low) and again in 2026."

Barnwell compared the trade for the Falcons to the one where the Chicago Bears acquired former Oakland Raiders edge rusher Khalil Mack before the 2018 season.

"The Falcons would add Parsons, a 25-year-old pass rusher on a Hall of Fame track. They'd give up a little more than what the Bears sent to the Raiders in 2018 for Khalil Mack, another star pass rusher who was traded away four years into his career. Parsons has been more productive than Mack and he's a year younger now than Mack was when he went to Chicago," wrote Barnwell.

Parsons could be on the trade market this offseason because the Cowboys are struggling to negotiate a contract extension with the linebacker. Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones told reporters at the NFL's annual spring meetings, though, that the team feels "good" about the direction of the contract talks with Parsons.

That should make it less likely Parsons is available before the 2025 NFL Draft. But if he is, the Falcons should be very interested.

Parsons made first-team All-Pro during each of his first two NFL seasons. The edge rusher earned a second-team All-Pro nomination in 2023 and then only made the Pro Bowl this past season, but he's continued to be highly productive. During 2024, Parsons posted 12 sacks with 12 tackles for loss and 23 quarterback hits in only 13 games.

The Falcons haven't had a defender with at least 12 sacks in a season since Vic Beasley in 2016.

Two first-round picks is a high price to pay for anything. On top of that, the Falcons have their own salary cap concerns, which a contract extension for Parsons could exacerbate.

But drafting an edge rusher hoping he's the next Parsons is far more risky, particularly given Atlanta's poor record at developing pass rushers through the draft.

Parsons may be about to end his rookie contract. But he will still only be 26 years old when the 2025 season begins. Parsons could completely transform Atlanta's defense immediately and be a cornerstone on the unit for the rest of the decade. If he truly becomes available on the market, the Falcons should be aggressive suitors.