LaVar Arrington didn’t sound thrilled to say it, but he said it anyway: the Cowboys got the better end of the Micah Parsons trade.
Arrington, who spent seven NFL seasons in the NFC East and starred at Penn State before that, has every reason to side with Parsons and little reason to hand Dallas any praise. But when asked Thursday night for his take, he still leaned toward Jerry Jones’ side of the deal.
“If you’re saying addition by subtraction, you probably gotta say,” Arrington said while starting to mouth the word “Cowboys,” according to Edward Lewis of the New York Post. “I’m not going to say it!”
The trade itself was more complicated than a simple one-for-one talent swap. Dallas didn’t just sit on the draft capital it received. The Cowboys moved one of those first-round picks in the deal that brought in Quinnen Williams, then traded back with the other first-rounder and picked up two fourth-round selections.
Here’s how the full haul broke down:
Cowboys traded away: Micah Parsons, Mazi Smith, 2026 second-round pick
Cowboys received: Kenny Clark (DT, Green Bay Packers), Quinnen Williams (DT, New York Jets), Malachi Lawrence (EDGE, UCF), Devin Moore (CB, Florida), LT Overton (DL, Alabama)
The move also gave Dallas room to work elsewhere. With the salary cap flexibility that came from Green Bay paying Parsons $188 million over four years, the Cowboys were able to extend All-Pro guard Tyler Smith and starting cornerback DaRon Bland. Jones also used that breathing room to get an extension done with Javonte Williams ahead of free agency and another with Quinnen Williams during training camp.
That financial piece matters because Dallas was staring at a defense that didn’t look fixable by one player, even one as disruptive as Parsons. Keeping him would have been expensive, and the 2025 outlook still would have been rough.
By spreading the money around, the Cowboys entered the new year with a rebuilt defense and, at least on paper, a lot more hope.
The Packers, though, aren’t out of the conversation yet. They made the move believing they could contend with one more impact piece, and Parsons’ torn ACL means that judgment hasn’t been tested fully. If he returns healthy and anchors a playoff run, Green Bay could still come out looking smart.
For now, though, Arrington’s verdict says enough: the Cowboys weren’t fleeced, and that was the big question when the trade first hit.
In Other News...
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For Dallas, the details are almost beside the point. Any time a division rival invests premium draft capital and then sees the early returns wobble, it invites the kind of unflattering comparisons that stick around, and Stowers has already been mentioned in the same breath as JJ Arcega-Whiteside, another second-round Eagles pick who never lived up to the billing. The bigger issue for Philadelphia is immediate pressure, because the injuries around him leave the rookie with even less margin for error as the season approaches. [Read more 🡒]
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Snap counts are becoming part of the conversation too, which is usually a sign the decisions are getting real. The Cowboys are sorting through a deeper receiving mix and weighing how much value each player brings beyond one good night in August, and they are also open to exploring trades if that helps shape the 53-man roster. For a team trying to balance upside, depth and certainty, the next few evaluations may matter as much as anything that happened in the preseason opener. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Suddenly Face A Tough QB Roster Decision
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Todd Archer of ESPN projects that possibility, and it speaks to how much the backup battle has shifted from a routine depth issue to a real decision point. The Cowboys still have not settled the spot behind Prescott, and with the preseason winding down, the outcome is less about naming a favorite and more about deciding whether either Howell or Milton has done enough to force an extra quarterback onto the roster. [Read more 🡒]