As the football world reacts to the blockbuster trade for Micah Parsons from the Dallas Cowboys to the Green Bay Packers, more information is emerging regarding the behind-the-scenes nature of the deal. When Parsons was traded to the Packers, it was the end of a long negotiation process with owner Jerry Jones around a contract extension, but the latest reporting suggests that former Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy may have played a part.
In the most recent column by Jeremy Fowler and Don Van Natta Jr. of ESPN, they explain why Dallas decided to make the final decision to trade the star pass rusher. Plus, it looked into the steps Green Bay took to figure out the best deal, which reportedly involved contacting others who had coached or played with Parsons.
One obvious person who has an obvious connection to Dallas and Green Bay is McCarthy, as he and general manager Brian Gutekunst “maintained a good relationship.”
“When doing their homework on Parsons, Gutekunst and the Packers reached out to people that had worked with, played with, or coached Parsons in college and in Dallas,” Fowler and Van Natta wrote.
“He wouldn't name names, but league sources said Gutekunst and McCarthy, who coached the Packers from 2006 to 2018 and the Cowboys from 2020 to 2024, maintained a good relationship,” Fowler and Van Natta continued. “Parsons and McCarthy had a solid connection — the edge rusher said in January that Dallas' decision to part ways with his former coach was “devastating.”
The Packers thought it was a “long shot” to trade for Micah Parsons
With Parsons receiving a $188 million contract from the Packers after the trade from the Cowboys, there's no denying that the football world is still in shock after the deal. Reportedly, Green Bay thought the chance to make a deal for Parsons was a “long shot,” as Gutekunst thought that Jones wouldn't deal away a “star player in the prime of his career.”
“Several Packers sources said Gutekunst thought all along a trade for Parsons was a long shot,” Fowler and Van Natta wrote. “He thought that when push came to shove, Jerry Jones would not part ways with a star player in the prime of his career — an idea Gutekunst confirmed Friday in Parsons' unveiling in Green Bay.”
This would also be something that Gutekunst said to the media after the Parsons deal, that it was not until “the last few days,” when the organization thought there was a legitimate chance to get the 26-year-old.
“The chances of these things [blockbuster trades] happening are pretty slim, and I think that was my mindset the whole time, was keep the conversations going because of the uniqueness of the player,” Gutekunst said. “But I don't think it was really until the last few days that I actually thought, ‘Hey, there's an opportunity here to close this thing out.'”
At any rate, Parsons will make his debut with Green Bay on Sunday, Sept. 7, against the Detroit Lions.
