Dallas fans, take a deep breath… or maybe don’t. Micah Parsons is Green Bay-bound. That’s right. After weeks of back-and-forth drama, social media posts, and eyebrow-raising comments from Jerry Jones, Parsons is out.

The Cowboys have agreed to trade the All-Pro pass rusher to the Packers in exchange for two first-round picks. ESPN’s Adam Schefter revealed that Parsons will immediately sign a four-year, $188 million contract with Green Bay, including $120 million guaranteed at signing. At an average of $47 million per season, Parsons becomes the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, surpassing the deal Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt landed just weeks ago.

In exchange, Dallas will receive Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark and first-round draft picks in 2026 and 2027 from Green Bay.

Parsons shared a bittersweet statement on X shortly after the deal broke. He wrote, “To wear the blue and white at Penn State and then carry those same colors into the NFL as a Cowboy, it was more than a dream, it was destiny. From the moment I arrived in Dallas, you embraced me and my family as your own. You made a kid from the east coast feel right at home in Texas. Every time I pulled up to work, every time I stepped onto that field, I felt the weight and pride of representing you. You didn’t just give me a jersey, you gave me a place to belong.

I never wanted this chapter to end, but not everything was in my control. My heart has always been here, and it still is. Through it all, I never made any demands. I never asked for anything more than fairness. I only asked that the person I trust to negotiate my contract to be part of the process.”

It didn’t have to end this way. Parsons tried to get a deal done. He played his fifth-year option but wanted long-term security. When talks stalled, he went public, demanding a trade. He still showed up at camp, still wore Cowboys gear, but didn’t practice. And all the while, Jones kept the drama in the headlines, taking swipes at his agent and essentially airing the negotiation’s dirty laundry for the world to see.

Parsons further wrote, “This is a sad day, but not a bitter one. I’ll never forget the joy of draft night, the adrenaline of running out of the tunnel, or the brotherhood I shared with my teammates, coaches and the staff who prepared me for every single game. Those memories are mine forever.”

Why Green Bay took the swing

General manager Brian Gutekunst has tried this before. On the eve of the 2018 season, the Packers were in the Khalil Mack sweepstakes but ultimately lost out to Chicago. Seven years later, under new team president Ed Policy, Gutekunst made the kind of franchise-defining move he missed on last time.

Parsons joins Rashan Gary to form one of the most dangerous edge-rushing tandems in football. Head coach Matt LaFleur and defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley wanted to generate more pressure with four rushers last season, but inconsistency forced them to lean on blitzes. With Parsons, they should be able to dictate with their front four. It will be a shift that could alter the entire defense’s ceiling.

Parsons is walking straight into a painful symmetry for Cowboys fans. The only two players in league history to open their careers with four straight seasons of 12+ sacks are Parsons and Reggie White. And now Parsons will call Lambeau home… the very place where White’s number is immortalized.

In Green Bay, Parsons steps onto a new stage with a monster contract and a team clearly willing to build around him. For Dallas? It’s a summer they’ll remember for all the wrong reasons.

Jerry’s loss? He may not think so eventually

“The Cowboys are a soap opera 365 days a year. When it gets slow, I’ll stir it up… there’s controversy—and that controversy is good stuff.” Although it wasn’t slow for the team at all this summer, Jerry always finds a way to do something that’s a blend of expected and unexpected.

How many of you were actually thinking his “reality show” wouldn’t end this way? (I have my hands up too, don’t you worry.) But this is JJ, and he can make history sneak up on you. Back when Jones sat down and reflected on the Herschel Walker trade, he explained how he thinks about risk, and how much he’s willing to put on the line if he believes the payoff is big enough. “I knew how to give and take and get it done for the most part. I earned the chance to buy the Cowboys by trading, so when it came time to make a trade like Herschel Walker …”

He didn’t need to finish the sentence. Everyone knew what came next: the most lopsided trade in league history, the move that gave Dallas the draft capital to build a dynasty. Walker was Dallas’ only Pro Bowler, the face of the offense. But Jones and Jimmy Johnson pulled the trigger, and the mountain of draft picks turned into Emmitt Smith, Darren Woodson, Russell Maryland, and the core of three Super Bowls.

And of course, Mr. Jones takes all the credit for it. “I’ve been made to look bad on this 50 different ways. You’ve read the stories. Sometimes I speak absurdity, try and make comments for humor. Sometimes I say things to take the pressure off the players and coaches. I do that all the time. Let ’em take their shots at Jerry, I can take it…”

Well, Micah…be it a good riddance or not, we’ll sure be talking about your trade story 25 years down the line.