In the weeks since shipping Micah Parsons to Green Bay, Jerry Jones has been on a spending spree.

The ink is still drying. Cornerback DaRon Bland pocketed his massive $22 million signing bonus, fullback Hunter Luepke took home $1.5 million, and guard Tyler Smith landed a 4-year, $96 million contract that makes him the highest-paid guard in the league. Put the deals they got all together, and Dallas leaped from 26th in 2025 cash commitments to 8th.

Over the 224 offensive snaps he has played so far this season, Smith has allowed 0 sacks. Meanwhile, Bland set an NFL record with 5 pick-sixes in 2023, and Luepke has 18 career carries, 57 yards, and 15 receptions to his name. This is Jerry Jones investing in the future.

But here’s the rub: Parsons is coming home. On Sunday night, Parsons will walk back into AT&T Stadium wearing green and gold, and every dollar Jones spent will feel like a down payment on trying to stop the very problem he created.

Parsons’ start may have been a slow burn on the stat sheet, just 1.5 sacks so far. But look closer. He’s been ramping up, generating 19 QB pressures, tied for third-most in the NFL. The Packers are reportedly planning to “unleash” him on Sunday, moving him across the formation just like Dan Quinn used to.

Prescott knows it’s coming. “It’ll definitely be fun,” he said Thursday, admitting he and his fiancée had just been talking about the strange reality of it all. He joked about “me telling him he wouldn’t tackle me anyways, he still can’t bring me down.” 

But can Jerry Jones’ money plug a Parsons-sized gap?

From 2021 to 2024, with Parsons on the roster, the Cowboys’ QB pressure rate was a league-best 40.2%. Without him? It’s plummeted to 29.9%, the 7th-worst in the NFL.

And Jordan Love, that’s a QB who thrives in clean pockets. Bay’s offense is built on one thing: taking shots. “They’re hunting shots all the time,” Cowboys DC Matt Eberflus said, calling Matt LeFleur “one of the best in the league.”

He’s not wrong. Love’s 9.1 air yards per attempt is 4th in the NFL, Cowboys’ biggest vulnerability. Dallas has already allowed 5 passing TDs of 20-plus air yards, the most in the league by a country mile (the next closest team has allowed 2).

Eberflus’s approach so far has been to play it safe, dropping his blitz rate to a passive 19.6% (28th in the league) and leaning on zone coverage. That’s a welcome mat for a quarterback who, when not pressured, completes an absurd 84.3% of his passes with a 136.9 passer rating. When will the heat get there? His completion rate drops to a measly 37.0%. It’s the whole ballgame, right there. Of course, giving Jadeveon Clowney his Cowboys debut could be a step in the right direction.

And then there’s Kenny Clark, too, set to have a big role against his former team. It all comes back to the pass rush. It all comes back to Micah. Jerry Jones made his choice. On Sunday, Parsons gets to make his.