Michael Irvin 'Guaranteed' Micah Parsons Won’t Leave the Cowboys Hours Before Packers Trade

Irvin soon discovered that his words meant very little in the grand scheme of things.

Jerry Jones leaves Michael Irvin red-faced by trading Micah Parsons

Right after ESPN aired Irvin’s comments on TV, the Cowboys announced through Adam Schefter that they had accepted the trade offer from the Green Bay Packers for Micah Parsons. Schefter revealed that the Packers sent two first-round draft picks and Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark to the Cowboys.

As for Parsons’ contract, the 26-year-old edge rusher agreed to a four-year, $188 million deal with $120 million fully guaranteed. Parsons overtook the Pittsburgh Steelers’ TJ Watt to become the highest-paid non-QB in NFL history.

Irvin posted a clip of his reaction on X shortly after Parsons’ trade went through. He claimed to be in a state of shock after hearing the news. From his point of view, the crumbling ties between Jones and Parsons led to this conclusion.

This [trade] isn’t about football. This was about personal emotions, and it just got to a boiling point, where it was like, OK. … Boy, this hurts. This no doubt hurts.

Irvin said in the video

Dallas natives were quick to compare Parsons’ trade with another infamous business that took place earlier in the year. For a while, sports fans were in disbelief to witness the departure of Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Mavericks’ general manager, Nico Harrison, quickly became public enemy number one, despite insisting that trading Doncic was the right move.

Jones adopted the same route as Harrison, claiming that trading Parsons is a mere step in building the ultimate team.

We not only have four first-round picks over the next two years. Nothing says we can’t use some of those picks right now to go get somebody right now. Don’t rule that out.

Jerry Jones said (H/T: NBC Sports)

The Cowboys COO, Stephen Jones, reiterated the same point.

Nothing says we can’t use one of those to improve the team this year, which we wouldn’t rule out—this year.

Stephen Jones said

On the surface, the Cowboys have a history of drafting good young players. However, Parsons is a generational talent and only the second athlete to record at least 12 sacks in each of his first four seasons in the NFL.

According to ESPN’s Bill Barnwell,

Over the last four years, the Cowboys are the league’s best defense with Micah Parsons on the field by EPA per play. Across a 1,039-play sample, they’re the league’s second-worst defense over that same stretch by EPA per play when Parsons isn’t on the field.

The Cowboys will have to draft extremely well to match Parsons’ output. Regardless, Parsons will make a swift return to Arlington, as the Packers are scheduled to play the Cowboys in week four.