Headlines were made on Thursday as the Dallas Cowboys traded star Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers, ending a long contract dispute before the start of the 2025 regular season. With the NFL world reacting to the shocking Cowboys trade, as the popular opinion is that the Packers won the deal due to the quality of the player, analyst Kirk Herbstreit had a different take.
In return for the pass rusher, Dallas received defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first-round picks, with many people believing that Green Bay made better out of the deal. However, Herbstreit on ESPN's “Get Up” would explain how the move makes sense for building a new culture under new head coach Brian Schottenheimer.
“I mean, if you're just going to look at it from the XO standpoint, I mean, you lose a great player physically, obviously, he can take a game over,” Herbstreit said. “But I look at this in a different way. This is a new coach trying to build a new culture, and your alpha, your best player, is sitting out in a negotiation that's not working out. And not only that, but just some of the optics of it, with some of the things he did during camp, it just wasn't good.”
“And then the drama that's always with Dallas is going on and on and on between him and the organization and Jerry Jones,” Herbstreit continued. “I think at this point it is probably best to just give him his opportunity to go to another franchise, and then Dallas can almost start over as far as inside the building, the culture of trying to build this thing from the ground up defensively.”
“I know it sounds crazy, but I applaud Dallas in letting [Micah Parsons] go.”@KirkHerbstreit feels the Cowboys did the right thing in trading Micah Parsons 👀 pic.twitter.com/sIStR0t01A
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) August 29, 2025
Kirk Herbstreit ‘applauds' the Cowboys for trading Micah Parsons
With reportedly some NFL executives believing the Cowboys trade is “idiotic,” as said by insider Jordan Schultz, Herbstreit heavily disagrees. The analyst would say on the show that he even ‘applauds' Dallas for making the move that sets them up beyond this upcoming season.
“If they're ever going to be a real contender, not only in their division, but the NFC, they got to get better defensively,” Herbstreit said. “Now you say, how do you get better by losing Micah Parsons? I think you're just looking at that like physically what he does, but what does he do behind the scenes to the culture of who the Dallas Cowboys are?”
“And I know it sounds crazy, but I applaud Dallas in letting him go, and trying to build a culture of team instead of an individual, and we'll see what happens with Dallas this year,” Herbstreit continued. “But I don't think this is a play for 2025, I think it's a play for 25, 26, 27, and beyond.”
Dallas opens the season on Thursday, Sept. 4, against the Philadelphia Eagles.
