Long before he was picked 11th overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, Micah Parsons already knew where he wanted to land. His father and brother were lifelong Dallas Cowboys fans, and he grew up watching and admiring the star. So when Bleacher Report’s Adam Lefkoe asked him live at the 2026 Draft broadcast about how it felt watching Dallas make picks without him on the roster for the first time, his answer held weight.

“I don’t know,” Parsons said on the broadcast. “It is weird. But no, I’m still rooting for them,” he added. “I’m just a forgiving person. I have no bad blood. CeeDee Lamb, Dak Prescott, those are all still my boys. I still root for them, you know what I mean? No bad blood against the Cowboys. When I got drafted, the thing that was most memorable: I grew up a Cowboys fan. My dad and my brother are huge Cowboys fans. So that was the whole point, like, ‘I want to go to Dallas.’ My dreams came true.”

Last offseason, when Parsons publicly requested a trade amid his holdout with the Cowboys, franchise quarterback Dak Prescott called the whole situation “frustrating for everybody involved.” Star wideout CeeDee Lamb had also backed Parsons during the holdout. Parsons’ naming them both unprompted on live television wasn’t a goodwill gesture. It was him acknowledging who stood by him when things got ugly.

Dallas first approached Parsons about an extension at the 2024 NFL Combine. Per Parsons’ agent David Mulugheta, the Cowboys said there were “a lot of things to work through” with other contracts on the roster. Parsons understood and waited.

Parsons’ camp then communicated on two separate occasions over the next 18 months that they were ready to negotiate. Nothing came back, and in the 2025 offseason, Parsons held out of training camp and submitted a trade request.

Dallas traded him to the Green Bay Packers on August 28, 2025. They got defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first-round picks for the trade. As for the Packers, they immediately signed him to a four-year, $188 million deal and made him the highest-paid non-QB in the league.

What went unreported at the time – surfacing in November – was that Dallas had buried a “poison pill” clause in the trade. If Green Bay trades Parsons to any NFC East team through the 2026 season, the Packers owe Dallas their 2028 first-round pick. The Philadelphia Eagles had pushed hard for Parsons before the trade and had been turned away. Dallas made sure that the door stayed shut.

One season removed from all of it – the holdout, the request, the trade – Micah Parsons was on Bleacher Report’s broadcast when the Cowboys went on the clock at No. 11. And he wasn’t just watching.

Micah Parsons’ powerful message to Caleb Downs

The Cowboys sent their No. 12, 117, and 180 picks to the Miami Dolphins to move up one spot and grab Ohio State safety Caleb Downs at No. 11. Soon after the pick was announced, Downs was receiving high praise from Micah Parsons on a video conference during Bleacher Report’s broadcast. 

“They’re not drafting you to be a player. They’re drafting you to be the player that you already are, to come into that system and dominate,” Parsons told Downs. “So you’re not here to be behind nobody. You’re not here to say, ‘Yo, I’m trying to learn from him,’ and so and so. No. You’re here to start, be the guy. Like I said earlier in the draft, you don’t wish upon a star, you land on it.”

Parsons also requested Downs to go after CeeDee Lamb at training camp. Going against the 5x Pro Bowl wideout every day in practice is the real standard-setter for any defensive player on that roster. Micah ran those reps for four offseasons, and he told Downs, “You’re the only one I believe that can do it.” That was the bar being set before training camp opens.

Over 44 college games split between Alabama and Ohio State, Downs posted 257 tackles, 12 pass breakups, and 6 interceptions. He’s a 2x Unanimous All-American and can line up as box safety, deep safety, or slot corner – which maps directly to what new defensive coordinator Christian Parker described as the nickel role in Dallas’ rebuilt 3-4 scheme.

The warm reading on this moment is that of a former franchise cornerstone blessing the new kid on draft night, making it good television. But that skips past what Dallas actually needed. Their defense gave up the most points per game in 2025 (30.1), and had no identity or a standard-setter after Parsons’ exit. Parsons wasn’t offering encouragement to Downs; he was handing over the expectations.

Micah Parsons told Lefkoe that his dreams were fulfilled the day he got drafted to Dallas. The Cowboys got what they needed in Caleb Downs – a new defensive anchor. And the man they traded was on the broadcast, telling the new anchor to carry the star proudly on his helmet.