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Upon further review, 'The Trade' was a colossal blunder

Originally posted on Inside The Star
By Richard Paolinelli | Last updated Oct 17, 2025 11:13 AM ET

The 2025 NFL season is officially at the 1/3^rd pole now. For the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers, it has been shaped by “The Trade”.

Just one week before Dallas was to open the season against the Philadelphia Eagles, Jerry Jones traded Micah Parsons off to the Green Bay Packers.

In exchange, the Cowboys received defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first round picks. So how does the trade stack up after the first six weeks?

A Tale Of Two Franchises

The Green Bay Packers are 3-1-1. The Dallas Cowboys are 2-3-1.

Clearly it is the best of times for one, the worst of times for the other. And there’s your obligatory classical literature reference for the season.

The tie game coming, of course, against each other at the end of September.

Based on the record alone, the advantage goes to Green Bay. The Packers, who already have had their bye week, are percentage points ahead of the Detroit Lions for first in the NFC North.

By comparison, the Cowboys are just one-half of a game ahead of the New York Giants for last place in the NFC East.

Again, advantage Green Bay.

Aside from that wild 40-40 overtime tie against Dallas, the Packers have only allowed 62 total points in its other four games this year.

Parsons has 2.5 sacks, 11 tackles, one tackle for a loss, and eight quarterback hits in five games. He did not start the season-opener, a 27-13 win over the Lions.

While Parsons is behind his usual pace in sacks and tackles this year, he is clearly drawing a lot of attention and freeing up his new teammates.

Green Bay has 12 sacks as a team so far. The Cowboys only have 10.

Advantage, again, Green Bay.

Unrealized Hopes

When Jones pulled the trigger on the trade, he insisted it had improved the Cowboys’ ability to stop the run. This has been an Achilles heel that has tormented Dallas for years.

It was the reason why Dallas reached for defensive tackle Mazi Smith in the first round of the 2023 draft.

Smith proved not to be the answer, sending Jones shopping for a run-stopping defensive tackle.

In 2024 over the full season, the Cowboys finished 29^th in rushing yards allowed and 32^nd in rushing touchdowns allowed. In 2025 they are 29^th and 21^st respectively.

But that’s only because in 2025, Dallas is 32^nd in passing yards allowed and 31^st in passing touchdowns allowed.

In 2024, they were 17^th and 24^th respectively.

Not only can they still not stop the run this year, they can no longer slow down the opposing team in the air either. Mainly because they have no pash rush.

The role Parsons once filled by either getting to the quarterback, or drawing enough attention to allow his teammates to get there instead.

Failed Gamble

Jones’ moniker as “The Gambler” was heavily lauded less than two months ago when he stunned the NFL by shipping off his best defensive player.

He said he’d made the team better.

But the current numbers clearly show that he was on the draw. When it came time to show his cards, all he had was ace-high.

Six weeks in and we’ve already seen enough.

The Parsons trade will go down as the worst in franchise history. It might even be the worst blunder in the NFL since the Vikings traded for Herschel Walker.

This article first appeared on Inside The Star and was syndicated with permission.

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