The Dallas Cowboys closed the Micah Parsons chapter in their history after last month’s draft.
Acquiring two first-rounders and Kenny Clark from Green Bay, the Cowboys used the draft to make more trades and assemble a woeful defense. Ultimately, from the Parsons trade, they ended up with Clark, defensive lineman Quinnen Williams, outside linebacker Malachi Lawrence (23rd pick in 2026), cornerback Devin Moore (114th overall) and defensive lineman LT Overton (137th overall). The Cowboys are also giving their 2027 first-round pick to New York as part of the Williams deal.
General manager Stephen Jones told Adam Schein on Mad Dog Sports Radio on Tuesday that he was happy with how the trade worked out for Dallas.
“We feel really good about it,” he said. “Obviously there’s a lot of respect for Micah and what he stands for and the way he plays and the player he is, but at the same time we feel good about what we’ve added through this trade. You look at guys like Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark, they’re alpha players who are not only great players on the court, but they’re leaders in their meeting room, how they go about their business. [they] just bring great leadership to this team. As we mentioned, we add a guy like Caleb Downs, who is obviously the same type of character. He is going to make everyone around him great. All will feed on him. And then the works we have added in recent years. We’re fired up with (Donovan) Ezeiruaku, who was a second-round pick for us last year that I think is all up front.
“I’m just really optimistic that we have the right pieces in place to go out. Ultimately, the decision we made was that one player wasn’t worth four or five good ones. We feel like that’s where we’re going to end up here, in a good spot. We had that opportunity there and didn’t feel like we were one player away from last year, but I certainly feel like we’ve got to give us what the fans deserve. what we want, that’s going to try to win the big cup.”
The only player not worth “four or five good” is a line the Cowboys have used repeatedly since sending Parsons out of town after contract negotiations went sideways. No player acquired in a trade is likely to be as good as Parsons, but overall, Dallas thinks they can move forward.
After last year’s disastrous defensive efforts sank the squad, the Cowboys traded their best defensive weapon to fill in the gaps. If all of those things come together, turn the D around under new coordinator Christian Parker and take Dallas to a place they haven’t been in 30 years, you can bet the buzz around the trade will be even stronger.