No one saw it coming. Mike McCarthy, who coached Micah Parsons for the DE’s first four years in the NFL, was no exception. After all, Jerry Jones had made it seem like everything was hunky dory. “I did have an opportunity to meet Jerry Jones in June before we moved back to Green Bay…He thought him and Micah had a deal,” McCarthy recalled on the Pat McAfee Show. Well, it seems like McCarthy’s sentiments are shared by his former Dallas Cowboys colleague, Dan Quinn.

The move came as a surprise to Dan Quinn. “I was surprised that he was traded. And I had an absolute blast coaching him, so he, you know, brings out the mad scientist in you to see, ‘All right. What if you were here? How would you feature them? What about over here?'” Well, all that ‘mad scientist’ stuff really worked.

After all, it was Quinn who realized that Parsons’ talents would be best utilized if he played as an edge defender. And he wasn’t wrong, considering the former Nittany Lion finished his rookie season with 13 sacks and 20 tackles for loss, bagging the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. “He could learn things really quickly, but I was surprised that he went outside of division.” Quinn’s shock here is understandable, but the word on the street is that the Cowboys never had any intention of trading Parsons within the division, no matter the size of the offer.

Per Jay Glazer, it was the Philadelphia Eagles that gave Dallas the biggest offer— two first-round draft picks, a third-round pick, a fifth-round pick, and “other things.”—but Jerry Jones and Co. had made up their mind. And that led to the Packers making Parsons the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, thanks to a four-year $188 million contract, which included $120 million fully guaranteed and signing. But how expensive exactly did the deal turn out to be for the Cowboys?

Micah Parsons vs. Cowboys defense: Who had a better outing?

Even though he was nursing a back injury, Micah Parsons did not fail to impress on his debut for the Green Bay Packers in their 27-13 win over the Detroit Lions. He not only had his first sack for his new team but also finished with an interception and three pressures—all in the 29 of the 65 defensive snaps he participated in. It was his way of giving back to those who went above and beyond for him.

“These guys embraced me,” Parsons said. “They believe in my talents. They believed in me and I’m just gonna give these guys everything I have because I know what’s at stake and I know what they gave up for me to be here and I’mma do what it takes for us to win.”

The Cowboys hoped that their trade would prove to be a wise decision. After all, Jerry Jones himself said that it ultimately was just numbers: “Well the odds of having more for that much compensation, the odds of getting more people playing on the field every game as opposed to having it all on one or two, it’s an opportunity for us.” It made sense. The numbers that the Dallas defense put up on opening night, however, need to be looked at with a little more nuance.

Their offense got off to a good start against the Philadelphia Eagles, scoring on all of their first four possessions, but the Micah Parsons-less defense was a total mess, yielding three consecutive touchdowns, which left Dallas down 21-20 at halftime. Of course, the second half was the complete opposite. The offense did not bother the scoreboard, while the defense conceded only 3 points in the final 30 minutes, holding Jalen Hurts to only 152 yards passing. and DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown to only 24 yards receiving combined. 

But does that make it fair to put the entire blame on the offensive lapses? Not really. But that also doesn’t mean that the Packers’ defense was a total disaster without Parsons. Then again, it was only week 1.