Breaking: Cowboys Consider Shake-Up: Micah Parsons on Trading Block

Before Dallas Cowboys pass-rusher Micah Parsons raised eyebrows with some interesting comments about head coach Mike McCarthy and the state of the team this past weekend, some suggested the Cowboys could make Parsons available this coming offseason in an attempt to acquire needed assets that could be used to bolster the club’s roster.

For a piece published Wednesday, ESPN’s Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler touched upon whether Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones would consider trading the 25-year-old who is, when at his best, one of the league’s top defensive stars.

“They don’t like to rebuild in Dallas,” Graziano explained, “but the Cowboys are in line for a significant retooling, if nothing else. And the speculation around Parsons has already started, rooted in the idea that trading him would bring a treasure trove of draft picks to help them restock. I have a hard time seeing Jones green-lighting a Parsons trade, but keeping him would mean having the highest-paid quarterback, the highest-paid non-quarterback and the second highest-paid wide receiver in the league.”

Graziano was referencing how Dallas signed receiver CeeDee Lamb and quarterback Dak Prescott to extensions before Prescott went down with a season-ending injury and before the Cowboys fell to 3-6 on the campaign. It seems likely Jones will move on from McCarthy in January, and it’s possible a new coaching staff could view trading the talented Parsons as an addition-by-subtraction move.

A rumor from last spring claimed that Parsons had “worn thin” in Dallas, so much so that “there would be a decent amount of people inside the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco smiling or breathing a sigh of relief” if he was traded.

Additionally, some questioned Parsons’ leadership qualities before he indicated this past Sunday that he was more concerned about veteran players than about McCarthy’s future. Parsons is currently set to play next season on the fifth-year option attached to his rookie contract.

“Parsons is the key piece to all of this,” Fowler said about the Cowboys’ salary-cap situation. “How will Dallas handle his market, which will balloon well above $30M per year? Should the pass rusher’s comments to reporters Sunday about McCarthy be taken as a hint of unhappiness? Maybe that’s a leap, but one that a few coaches around the league made this week via text.”

It’s interesting neither Graziano nor Fowler slammed the door shut on the Cowboys taking calls about Parsons’ availability. As shared by Thad Brown of Athlon Sports, Graziano thinks Dallas “could probably get three first-round picks for Parsons” before the 2025 draft.