Jerry Jones continues to insist that the Dallas Cowboys will be a better team after trading arguably the best defensive player in all of football.
The Cowboys traded Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers on Thursday following a lengthy contract dispute. Dallas received two first-round draft picks and veteran defensive tackle Kenny Clark in the deal.
Parsons had been seeking an extension from the Cowboys. He publicly requested a trade on Aug. 1, and the team initially said they had no intention of moving the four-time Pro Bowl defensive end. A divorce eventually became inevitable, in part because Jones repeatedly accused Parsons’ agent of not honoring a handshake agreement that Jones had made with Parsons.
The trade was clearly made out of necessity, but Jones is now trying to spin it as if the Cowboys will be a better team without Parsons in 2025. The 82-year-old told Tommy Yarrish of DallasCowboys.com on Saturday that Dallas needed to get better at stopping the run.
“Our player that we got is outstanding. We knew that, and he’ll immediately start making plays for us here when we get up there against those Philadelphia Eagles. But the most important thing is we really wanted to stop the run,” Jones said. “And Micah’s a wonderful football player, we think this gives us a better chance to stop the run. Other teams knew that, and they threw the ball out quick and they ran against us when we had Micah and they’re really emphasizing pass rush.”
Asked #Cowboys owner/GM Jerry Jones yesterday on the @nflnetwork how he felt about the Micah Parsons trade two days removed from it:
— Tommy Yarrish (@tommy_yarrish) August 31, 2025
"Our player that we got is outstanding. We knew that, and he'll immediately start making plays for us here when we get up there against those… pic.twitter.com/I63NXsrAGf
No one is denying that Clark is an excellent run-stuffer. The veteran defensive tackle has made the Pro Bowl three times and was extremely reliable in Green Bay, starting all 17 games in each of the past three seasons.
Even if Jones is right that the Cowboys will be better against the run with Clark on the field rather than Parsons, that does not mean Dallas will be a better team. There is a reason pass-rushers are the highest-paid non-quarterbacks in the NFL. Parsons has 12 or more sacks in each of his first four NFL seasons and is a generational talent. The same cannot be said for Clark, even if he is an excellent player.
The Cowboys got what they could for Parsons after trying to work through a dispute with him. Rather than owning that, Jones has already made multiple outrageous claims about the blockbuster deal.
