After months of speculation, the Dallas Cowboys shocked the entire sports world last Thursday night when they traded three-time All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for two first-round picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark. This came after the Cowboys and Parsons (and his agent David Mulugheta) were unable to reach an agreement on a long-term deal, leading to him asking for a trade.
Green Bay and Parsons’ agent worked quickly on a deal, which made the Penn State alum the highest-paid non-quarterback in the history of the National Football League. Parsons put pen to paper on a four-year, $188 million contract just moments after the trade.
Mulugheta joined Tuesday morning’s edition of ‘First Take‘ for an exclusive interview, in which he went into detail on the Parsons trade. He revealed that Micah wanted to remain a Dallas Cowboy, but that just couldn’t happen under the conditions of the proposed contract from the organization.
“I think the most important thing is that Micah wanted to be a Cowboy,” Mulugheta said. “He grew up cheering for the Cowboys. He wore the blue and white at Penn State and wore it in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys. Micah wanted to be a Cowboy and we did everything we could for him to remain a Cowboy. We reached out and like I said I usually don’t do interviews to keep these conversations out of the media, but in this case so much information has been put out that we wanted to address a couple of things. As far as Micah was concerned, he wanted to be a Cowboy and we did everything we could.”
“Sometimes you’ve got to be a bit careful about what you read in the media as far as what was offered to Micah,” he continued. “The guarantees that were offered and the APY that was offered. There is so much that goes into an NFL contract. If you look at many of these contracts that the Cowboys have done over the past few years, and in the recent ones the guarantees don’t stretch much further than the first new year. If you look at Micah’s new deal, he has guarantees four years from now.
“Again, there are certain things that have been put out in the media that make it look as though Micah turned down a fair deal but that’s simply not the case.”
Dallas, now without their three-time All-Pro linebacker, kick off the 2025 NFL season Thursday night against the reigning Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles. Parsons’ Green Bay Packers open their season Sunday afternoon against their rival Detroit Lions.
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