The enduring narratives are so ingrained, they’re almost boring.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, recently rechristened “The Gambler,” is an 82-year-old man who, we’re assured, is desperate to win another Super Bowl. He’s not shy about engaging in high-profile contract standoffs but has a knack for theatrical deal-striking in the nick of time.
Conversely, the Green Bay Packers, a franchise without an actual owner, exist on the other end of the NFL continuum. Risk averse and partial to playing the long game, the Packers’ Powers That Be, for as long as we can remember, have quietly implemented a draft-and-develop strategy while shying away from splashy acquisitions.
Those are the stereotypes attached to the people in charge of these franchises with massive, multinational fan bases — until now.
Thursday, one of the biggest blockbuster trades in NFL history smashed all of that to pieces, like a cheesehead crushing a cowboy figurine.
A week before America’s Team will open the regular season in Philadelphia against the defending Super Bowl champions, Jones traded star pass rusher Micah Parsons to the Packers for two first-round draft picks and three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark.
It’s a reasonably impressive haul for the Cowboys, but it hardly screams “all in” for 2025. With an untested rookie coach in Brian Schottenheimer and a big “L” in a messy standoff with a star player and his powerful agent, Jones can’t even pretend to flex. He might be a master at generating hype, but this is reality: His franchise appears even further from ending a three-decade run without a conference title game appearance than it did a day ago.
As for the Packers? Well, welcome to the 21st century. For all the frustrations endured by players, coaches and fans during a 30-year stretch in which the front office coasted off the excellence of first-ballot Hall of Fame-caliber quarterbacks Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers — while declining, for the most part, to take big swings — a sense of urgency has finally arrived in Titletown.
By trading for a 26-year-old superstar, and paying Parsons $188 million over four years (more than any non-quarterback in NFL history), the Packers have made it clear that they’re the real gamblers.
Beginning next Sunday at Lambeau Field, when Green Bay opens its season against the NFC North-rival Detroit Lions, fans might want to replace those “Go Pack Go” chants with “Go for Broke.”
Jones can comfort himself by lauding the short-term importance of acquiring Clark, who turns 30 in October (while playing a less-marquee position than Parsons), and the long-term potential garnered via the draft capital.
Good luck with that.
The hard, cold truth is that, unless and until the Cowboys win another Super Bowl, this deal will be framed as a resounding defeat.
In this case, Jones earned the enmity coming his way from the team’s fans. To review: The owner/GM tried to bamboozle Parsons, and circumvent NFL Players Association protocol, by discussing contract terms without the involvement of agent David Mulugheta. When Parsons subsequently balked at the alleged “deal,” Jones essentially pitched a fit, refusing for months to engage with the agent.
Three weeks ago, when my colleague Dianna Russini reported on how badly the situation had degenerated — after which Parsons, who never believed a deal had been struck, publicly requested a trade — Jones pooh-poohed it, telling fans (via the media), “Don’t lose any sleep over it.”
As I wrote at the time: Dream on.
It turns out that Stay woke would have been a better mantra. Either the owner didn’t understand who had the leverage, or he was committed to self-sabotage — but he definitely made some unforced errors.
Last week, for example, Jones further inflamed the situation by telling ex-Cowboys great Michael Irvin, on the Hall of Fame receiver’s podcast, that after he and Parsons had discussed numbers in March, “When we wanted to send the details to the agent, the agent told us to stick it up our ass.”
Yes, it was hyperbole and should have been regarded as such.
No, it wasn’t helpful.
Even worse, Jones’ tone was delusional. Throughout the saga, he acted like the party with all the power. Jones insisted he could force Parsons to play on the fifth-year option of his rookie deal and, potentially, apply the franchise tag for each of the next two seasons. He also had many people convinced that a deal might be struck in the final days before the season opener, mirroring past signings of offensive stars Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott and CeeDee Lamb.
However, Jones seems to have underestimated his opponents. Parsons, citing a back injury, refrained from practicing and might have been willing to insist he was too hurt to play once the real games began. Mulugheta, who employed a similar strategy with client Jalen Ramsey that successfully forced a trade during the 2019 regular season, does not come off as a man who cavalierly bluffs.
In the end, Jones blinked. To his credit, he got a nice return from the Packers under the circumstances. Yet, at least for now, that won’t stop many in the Dallas Metroplex from comparing him to Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison, whose decision in February to trade then-25-year-old superstar Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers has been lambasted as one of the most disastrous in NBA history.
In retrospect, Jones — if unwilling to negotiate with Mulugheta — should have seen this trainwreck coming and traded Parsons in April, when he could have used at least one of those Green Bay-provided draft picks to get his team some immediate help. Now, he’ll likely have to wait until spring to try to find another elite edge rusher.
Meanwhile, at Lambeau Field, they’re harboring visions of another Lombardi Trophy. As the 2025 season approaches, all that glitters is green and gold.
The Packers have made the playoffs in each of the past two seasons and five times since Matt LaFleur became the coach in 2019. Could Parsons’ presence help get them over the hump, the way the free-agent signing of future first-ballot Hall of Fame defensive end Reggie White did 32 years ago?
We can’t give you that answer conclusively, but it should be a hell of a lot of fun finding out.
General manager Brian Gutekunst, once reportedly derided by Rodgers in group texts as “Jerry Krause” for what the quarterback deemed a ruinous approach to team-building, now has that Howie Roseman glow as he struts around Lambeau.
And as for newly installed Packers CEO Ed Policy? At the next owners’ meeting, he should roll up rocking Gucci slippers and a Hugh Hefner-style red velvet smoking jacket.
Policy, 54, presumably has many more years to cultivate that image, should he so choose.
Jones, for all the attention being generated by his recently dropped Netflix docuseries, has to feel a bit jealous.
The bottom line is this: The Gambler just got rid of one of the league’s best players, a young man seemingly entering the prime of his career, because of the owner’s own flaws: stubbornness, a lack of urgency, and miscalculations of his adversaries and of the market.
As a result, Green Bay just got glitzier — and America’s Team appears pretty damn far from Super.
(Photo: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
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