The standoff between Jerry Jones and Micah Parsons came to a head on Thursday, as the Cowboys dealt the four-time Pro Bowl selection to the Green Bay Packers for three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first round picks in a stunning blockbuster trade.
It was the culmination of a months-long back-and-forth between Jones and Parsons's camp, negotiations that at times became tense and ultimately resulted in the star pass rusher becoming the league's highest-paid non-quarterback—in a different uniform.
So naturally, people wanted to know the justification for trading Parsons, who has racked up double-digit sacks in the first four seasons of his career, and naturally, Jones was readily available to provide such justification shortly after news of the deal broke.
And they didn't have to wait long. Jones opened a roughly 45-minute press conference by, oddly enough, citing defensive strategy as the reason for trading away one of the league's best defenders.
".We did think it was in the best interest of our organization—not only the future, but right now, this season as well," Jones said. "We've gained a Pro Bowl player in an area that we had big concerns in, the inside of our defense.
"The facts are, specifically, we need to stop the run. We haven’t been able to stop the run at key times for several years."
The main job of Parsons, a pass rusher by trade, isn't to stop the run. But you just knew that Jones justifying trading away one of the best defensive players in the league by saying it would make another area of the Cowboys defense better was going to go over well with fans.
To be fair to Jones, stopping the run was a major issue for the Dallas defense this past season, as the club yielded the fourth-most rushing yards per game. And it has been a problem in each of their last three postseason losses, in which they've surrendered a combined 425 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns.
"The frustration is that we haven't been able to win the big game in the playoffs, and we think it is a direct connection to not being able to stop the run," Jones's son and co-owner Stephen Jones said Thursday. "We think Kenny Clark's going to be a big piece to that, and we felt like because of our depth on the edge, as well as the ability to scheme pressure, that we could make up for Micah."
Dallas certainly has depth, as the likes of Dante Fowler Jr., Marshawn Kneeland, Sam Williams, Donovan Ezeiruaku and James Houston can all rush the passer. The problem is, the Cowboys' two leaders in sacks from 2024, Parsons and defensive end Chauncey Golston, are no longer with the team.
Can Dallas's defense, led by play-caller Matt Eberflus, field a capable defense by taking a committee approach towards rushing the passer and focus more on stopping the run. Sure.
But the task would have been easier if, you know, Parsons was still in the building.
