Here’s how the NFL works, in a nutshell.
Every year, teams draft players. Each pick is a scratch-off lottery ticket. And when you get a winner, you don’t trade it in for more tickets.
Dysfunctional teams try to play that game, like the Bengals. And now the Cowboys.
Owner and G.M. Jerry Jones can filibuster all he wants (and he has . . . and he will), but the truth is that he screwed the pooch. He drafted a player who turned out to be great, and he turned him in for two chances at a player who isn’t a bust.
Jerry should know better. He’s an oilman. He never would have swapped a gusher for two possibly dry holes.
It doesn’t help that the Packers’ picks likely will come late in round one, in 2026 and 2027. While the pass/fail rate in that range remains roughly 50-50, the chances of finding a superstar there are slim.
And pay not attention to anyone pushing the idea that it’s good to get 2026 and 2027 draft picks because those classes will be so much better than 2025. First, no one knows that. Second, if the Cowboys had made Parsons available before the 2025 draft, they could have offered him to the Titans for a package including the No. 1 overall pick — and they could have taken Travis Hunter or Adbul Carter.
Carter would have had a better shot at replacing Parsons. Hunter would have made it unnecessary to later trade a third-round pick for receiver George Pickens.
The truth, as Jones himself confirmed it on Thursday night, is that the Cowboys wanted to kick the can through 2025, pay Micah $24 million (or $21.324 million), and figure it all out in 2026. When Jones dared Parsons to not play and it became obvious Parsons would sit, they need to cave in to his trade request.
And all they got to replace Parsons this season is Kenny Clark. Which will do nothing to keep the streak of not making the NFC Championship from inevitably hitting 30.
