The Micah Parsons deal is back in the conversation, and Dallas’ latest move is the reason why.
More than a year after the Packers sent two first-round picks and Kenny Clark to the Cowboys for Parsons in August 2025, Dallas is still working the return from that blockbuster into its defense. Now the Cowboys have added Joey Porter Jr. in a new trade with Pittsburgh, sending a 2028 second-round pick and a conditional sixth-round pick in 2027 the other way. The September 30 deal has put fresh focus on how Dallas has used the haul from the Parsons trade.
ESPN’s Benjamin Solak framed it this way: “Instead of paying Micah Parsons $46.5M per year, the Cowboys traded him for two Round 1 picks and Kenny Clark,” wrote the NFL insider.
Parsons eventually agreed to a four-year, $188 million extension with Green Bay, a deal that averages $47 million per season and includes $136 million in guarantees. Dallas, meanwhile, got Clark plus the Packers’ first-round picks in 2026 and 2027.
Solak pointed to the Cowboys’ next moves as part of the same larger picture. “They’ve now traded away a Round 1 and two Round 2 picks for Quinnen Williams and Joey Porter Jr., whom they will pay combined (assuming JPJ extension) ~$65.3M per year,” Solak continued.
That $65.3 million figure assumes Dallas eventually gives Porter a deal worth about $30 million per year, something the team has not done yet. But the larger point remains clear: the Parsons trade return has already been folded into multiple roster moves, while Green Bay went in a different direction by paying Parsons and making him the centerpiece of its defense.
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