
Unlock the Hidden Secret Behind the Most Unexpected Event of the Year
When a trade shakes the NFL to its core, you bet the ripple effects are gonna be profound — and that’s exactly what happened when Micah Parsons made his surprise move from Dallas to Green Bay. Swapping star edge rusher Parsons and defensive tackle Kenny Clark for first-round picks isn’t just a roster shuffle; it’s a seismic shift in power dynamics. The Packers, already a top-10 team, suddenly jumped up the ranks, while the Cowboys found themselves dropping deeper into mediocrity. But here’s the real kicker: Green Bay didn’t stop at the trade — they handed Parsons a jaw-dropping $188 million extension, raising the question: Is splurging on a pass rusher the smart play or just high-stakes gambling? Dive in as we unravel how this blockbuster deal reshapes not only these two franchises but the entire league’s landscape, and whether the Packers’ bold investment will pay dividends — or leave them counting the cost. LEARN MORE.
The Micah Parsons-Kenny Clark trade dramatically alters the NFL landscape. Here’s how it will change the Packers, Cowboys and the league as a whole. And is it a good idea to pay a pass rusher big money?
The Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys sent shockwaves through the NFL on Thursday when Dallas sent star edge rusher Micah Parsons to Green Bay for two first-round draft picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark.
The move will have some long-term ramifications, too, after the Packers inked Parsons to a massive four-year, $188 million contract extension with $136 million in total guarantees.
How it affects each team on the field won’t be fully realized until the season kicks off, but this trade has huge implications on what the Packers and Cowboys will look like entering Week 1.
The Packers were already a top-10 club in 2025, according to our team ratings, but adding Parsons vaulted Green Bay from eighth to sixth, just behind the Commanders. The Cowboys, meanwhile, dropped slightly from 22nd to 24th, between the Vikings and Patriots.
The Packers Are Now a Clear Contender
While the overall rating differences aren’t groundbreaking, the Packers really saw movement on their defense. Green Bay moved from 23rd to 11th in overall defense and catapulted from 25th to ninth in pass rush in our rankings.
This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, given Parsons has been one of the best defensive players in the NFL since he was drafted, but that change is significant.

Parsons has the highest pressure rate among all edge rushers with at least 1,000 pass rush snaps since 2021 at 27.4% — ahead of Myles Garrett, Trey Hendrickson and Nick Bosa.
Losing Clark in the interior of the defense is a blow, but the Packers took Devonte Wyatt in the first round of the 2022 draft and he should slide into the role vacated by Clark. Wyatt has 12 career sacks in three seasons and his 18.3% pressure rate ranked 17th among interior defensive linemen with at least 180 pass rush snaps in 2024.
What this effectively does is move the Packers clearly into the top tier of the league. Green Bay plays a litany of quality quarterbacks in the regular season like Jayden Daniels, Joe Burrow, Dak Prescott, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson and Jared Goff (twice). Those NFC clubs will be fighting for the top spots in the conference, and the Packers needed to elevate their pass rush to remain competitive.
Oddly enough, the Packers had the second-highest pressure rate in 2024 at 49.4% but ranked 24th in sack rate at 5.5%. Parsons changes the calculus around finishing the job, given his 6.5% adjusted sack rate ranks second since 2021, as does his knockdown and QB hurry rate.
Parsons is a force multiplier on defense, and his presence should raise the play of the Packers’ other edge rushers in Rashan Gary and Lukas Van Ness – two other former first-round picks. Green Bay also has 2022 fifth-round pick Kingsley Enagbare. That trio combined for 17 sacks this past season.

Cowboys Stuck in Mediocrity
This move effectively signals the Cowboys’ disinterest in competing in 2025.
Not only did Dallas drop to the clear bottom fourth of the league in overall team rating, but its defense dropped to 30th and its second-ranked pass rush, the backbone of the team, fell to 10th.
Parsons was arguably the team’s second-most important player behind Dak Prescott. And his absence will have ripple effects on the defense.
In the four games Parsons missed during the 2024 season, the Cowboys’ defensive success rate dropped from 23rd to 29th. Dallas’ sack rate fell even worse, from 8.6% to 7.6%, which is a seven-position drop from second to ninth. The blitz rate actually went up without Parsons in the lineup, from 32.3% to 39.1%, indicating that the Cowboys needed to utilize more rushers in an attempt to accomplish the same thing Parsons did by himself.
New defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus could change things up in Dallas now that he won’t have Parsons at his disposal, though. He only blitzed an average of 25.5% of the time during his three years as head coach of the Chicago Bears.
But he’ll need to be more creative without Parsons, as his top edge rushers will be second-round rookie Donovan Ezeiruaku, 2024 second-rounder Marshawn Kneeland and veteran Dante Fowler. The Cowboys also lost DeMarcus Lawrence to free agency.
That trio isn’t nearly as formidable without Parsons.
In 2024, Kneeland had a 7.9% pressure rate, while Fowler had a 16.3% pressure rate with the Commanders. Ezeiruaku had a 22.3% pressure rate at Boston College, but it’s unclear how his game will translate to the NFL.
The Cowboys will need to lean on the interior of their defensive front with Clark and Osa Odighizuwa on the interior and get better play from their secondary, led by Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland. How that all works without a top-tier edge rusher will be the biggest challenge.
Dallas has the makings of a team that could compete in 2025, but losing Parsons makes that possibility less likely now that the entire defense will need to be reworked days before Week 1.
This trade signaled two key storylines this year: The Packers are playing for keeps and looking to make waves, while the Cowboys don’t seem as serious about competing as they’ve been in years past.
Should the Packers Have Paid Micah Parsons?
The second part of this blockbuster trade is the enormous extension the Packers gave Parsons. Green Bay made the 26-year-old pass rusher the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history with a four-year, $188 million contract that pays him an average of $47 million a year.
Parsons’ numbers are at or near the top across the board among all players at his position. The total value of his contract is higher than the San Francisco 49ers star Nick Bosa; his average per year amount and total guarantees are higher than the Pittsburgh Steelers edge T.J. Watt and his $34 million average annual guaranteed salary ranks second behind Watt.

This is the market price for a top-of-the-line edge rusher in today’s NFL, especially since all but Bosa’s contract were signed during the 2025 offseason.
But is it worth it? The Packers are about to find out.
Among the seven edge rushers who make at least $29 million per year (which also now includes the Trey Hendrickson of the Cincinnati Bengals), only the Packers, 49ers and Bengals have a playoff probability of at least 50%.
These three teams have another thing in common: They all invested in the quarterback position. The Packers’ Jordan Love ranks second in our QB rankings heading into 2025, while the Bengals’ Joe Burrow ranks ninth. The 49ers’ Brock Purdy isn’t far behind at 12th.
The rest of this list isn’t so great, with quarterbacks who are either old (the Browns’ Joe Flacco, the Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers), low on our ratings (the Texans’ C.J. Stroud), or both (the Raiders’ Geno Smith).
The Texans are an interesting case study, though, given Stroud is still on a rookie deal and Houston could have a better 2025 season at the position with new offensive coordinator Nick Caley. But they, too, will need to pay their quarterback top-market value and will likely end up swapping Hunter’s deal for one with Will Anderson Jr. in the next two years.ÂÂ
The other teams that’ve spent top-10 money at the edge position overall (New York Giants, Minnesota Vikings, Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears) also don’t have high playoff probability or good quarterbacks under center – although the Bears are borderline in both regards heading into 2025.
Meanwhile, seven of the 14 teams we predict to make the playoffs in 2025 have less than $22 million allocated to the edge rusher position this season, per Spotrac. Yes, some squads like the Los Angeles Rams, Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles have players on rookie deals, but that advantage allowed them to spend money elsewhere to build true championship contenders without utilizing a significant portion of their salary cap at one position.
A similar split occurred in 2024, with half of the 14 playoff teams spending in the bottom half of the NFL at edge. However, if we move the threshold up to that $22 million number, the number of playoff teams from this past season moves from seven to 10, including six of the eight teams to make the divisional round and three of the four teams to make the conference championships.
Regardless of probabilities and cap spending, the Packers’ bold move to trade for Parsons was smart for a team looking to improve on its 2024 campaign. While the deals for edge rushers haven’t necessarily equated to championships, the 49ers made the Super Bowl the same season they extended Bosa on his $170 million deal. It almost worked for San Francisco, and Green Bay could be in a similar boat with its current roster.
At the very least, the Packers added arguably the NFL’s best young pass rusher for the next five years. That’s a good bet for anyone to make. Except, of course, the Cowboys.
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