Jerry Jones rationalizes Micah Parsons trade: 'I'll take the numbers every time'

There were few stories this offseason as captivating as the contractual standoff between star Micah Parsons and the Dallas Cowboys. That would, eventually, end with a trade to the Green Bay Packers. Despite that, Jerry Jones believes that it was in the best interest of making the Cowboys Super Bowl contenders again.

Jerry Jones recently appeared on Good Morning America. There, he explained the logic behind trading Micah Parsons, explaining that it became about weighing the value of one player with multiple other players, both the picks back in the trade and what else the team can afford without having him on the roster.

“We have two kinds of capital or currency in the NFL,” Jerry Jones said. “One of them is draft picks. The other is the financial because every team is limited to the same amount of resources to spend, and having said that, Micah enabled us to have four, possibly as many as six players, for the future. That’s a good trade when you need numbers. I’ll take the numbers every time.”

Finding a way to get the Cowboys back to Super Bowl contention is, ultimately, the goal for Jerry Jones. This is a franchise that has won five Super Bowls but none since the 1995 season. That season was also the last time they made it to the NFC Championship Game. That’s the longest NFC Championship Game appearance drought of any team in the conference.

In the end, Dallas sent Parsons to Green Bay for two first-round picks in the 2026 and 2027 NFL Drafts, as well as three-time Pro Bowl DT Kenny Clark. In return, the All-Pro pass rusher Parsons is expected to sign a four-year, $188 million deal. It will make him the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback with an average salary of $47 million annually.

That deal does give Jerry Jones and the Cowboys some flexibility, but it doesn’t seem like it was their first choice. At one point, Jones and Parsons had a handshake agreement. However, the team would not work out the details and negotiate with his agent. That led to an increase in tensions and essentially halted negotiations. It was also something that agent, David Mulugheta, recently addressed.

“That was the part, for ourselves, that was the most confusing. I understand Jerry’s always gonna do what’s best for the Cowboys, and we get that, right? His job to do what’s best for the team and put them in the best situation to win. In this situation, once Micah asked for his representation to be involved, we assumed that that would go like any other negotiation, and they would reach out, or they would allow me to reach out and commence negotiation,” Mulugheta said.

“I’m not sure how this turned the way it did. We were open to negotiate. We reached out numerous times to Adam Prasifka there, who does their contracts. I reached out to [Cowboys executive vice president] Stephen Jones as well, and asked him to start negotiations. But, for some reason, coming out of that conversation, Jerry believed that he had reached an agreement and he was not open to negotiating any further.”

The saga between Parsons and the Cowboys is now over. The only question is whether or not Jones can cash in on those picks and that roster flexibility.