Micah Parsons contract dispute: Former NFL GM pitches multiple trades of Dallas Cowboys star to Super Bowl contenders

Micah Parsons’ trade request amid his contract dispute with the Dallas Cowboys set the NFL world ablaze earlier this summer. Now, former general manager Mike Tannenbaum is highlighting some potential trades featuring the defensive superstar. 

Every team in the NFL would love to trade for Parsons, but which squads have the ammunition to get the job done? During a hit on ESPN’s Get Up, Tannenbaum highlighted three potential deals featuring a couple of Super Bowl contenders. Check them out below.

• Buffalo Bills receive Micah Parsons, Dallas Cowboys receive Ed Oliver, two first-round picks
• Detroit Lions receive Micah Parsons, Dallas Cowboys receive Brian Branch, first-round pick, two second-round picks
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers receive Micah Parsons, Dallas Cowboys receive Bucky Irving, Vita Vea, first-round pick

As you can tell, the Cowboys would receive an impressive defensive player in all three trades, although many would agree they’re not exactly on Parsons’ level. Still, Ed Oliver, Brian Branch and Vita Vea are stellar players at their respective positions in the NFL.

One key difference in the trade proposal featuring the Buccaneers is the addition of running back Bucky Irving. The Cowboys have been searching for a bell-cow to lead their backfield, and Irving could help with that. At the moment, the team’s running back group has more questions than answers. 

Moreover, the Bills make more sense than the Lions or Buccaneers for the Cowboys to trade with. They’re the only AFC team on the list, and moving Parsons inside the conference might be a strategy they’d like to avoid if they trade their star player. 

Of course, this could still all end with Parsons returning to the Cowboys, but hope for a resolution is waning in Dallas. ESPN’s Adam Schefter believes there’s a real question as to whether Parsons could miss time during the regular season if he isn’t traded, beginning with the league’s season opener featuring the franchise against the Philadelphia Eagles.

“If there’s no deal in sight, what’s going to happen? Is Micah going to play in the opener?” Schefter said this week on Get Up. “Already heard Jerry Jones wonder about whether Micah would be out there on opening day. What would be the Cowboys’ plan here? Well, if, obviously, they can’t get a long-term deal done and the two sides are not even talking about right now, then they can always have Micah this year, if he plays. And they have the franchise tag after this year, they’d have the franchise tag the next year. They have his rights, essentially, for three years. 

“At some point in time, you have to wonder if they would look to trade him. Now they’ve been very opposed to that idea, publicly saying we’re not interested in trading him, he’s not going to be dealt, but you can’t not sign the guy, and then you can’t not trade him. It’s one or the other.”

All told, Micah Parsons’ future is in flux, and whether he remains a Cowboy for the foreseeable future is on everyone’s mind. We should know more in the next couple of weeks, but there’s certainly a fascinating timeline on the situation at the moment.