Micah Parsons trade: Former NFL GM Mike Tannenbaum claims Dallas Cowboys got '60 cents on the dollar'

On Thursday, the Dallas Cowboys traded Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for Kenny Clark and a pair of first-round draft picks. In the end, ESPN’s Mike Tannenbaum thinks that return is just a fraction of what the franchise could’ve gotten back for one of the best players in the sport coming out of this contract fiasco.

During the reaction to the deal on ‘Get Up’ on Friday, Tannenbaum, as a former general manager, felt Dallas got just 60 cents on the dollar in this deal for Parsons. That’s after allowing this offseason’s negotiation to get to the point where the value to acquire him was far further down than it would’ve been for other interested teams in the market for him.

“60 cents on the dollar,” Tannenbaum determined. “The fact that they didn’t create a sense of urgency in March was a massive mistake that will cost this franchise for years because you just don’t know who else would have stepped up back then.”

Formerly having worked in a front office in the league, Tannenbaum couldn’t understand how or why the Cowboys actually did a deal that sent Parsons out. Not only was he the team’s best player, and set to be so for the next decade-plus had they signed him as many still expected them to, but trading him away seemingly goes against the trajectory of everything else they’ve been doing over the past year or two, and certainly just doesn’t allow them to be better in Dallas.

“It is inconceivable how they did this. It was a massive, strategic mistake,” Tannenbaum said. “They comported themselves for much of the offseason like they’re trying to win. They go out and get George Pickens on a one-year deal. They let other players leave, like DeMarcus Lawrence, Jourdan Lewis, because you have Micah Parsons. When you have Micah Parsons, you’re going to build around him; you’re trying to win now. You sign CeeDee Lamb to an extension, you sign Dak Prescott to an extension, all recently, because you’re trying to win. It’s really hard to reconcile those two things.”

Parsons trade: Mike Tannenbaum rips Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys

As reactions continued to pour in after the trade of Micah Parsons, Mike Tannenbaum shared his thoughts. He took aim at Jerry Jones and the Cowboys regarding the compensation they got back for the All-Pro, Pro Bowl linebacker. To Tannenbaum, Jones missed an opportunity because, if the trade occurred earlier in the offseason, the Cowboys could have gotten significantly more than they did.

“If Dallas had made the decision in March to trade Micah Parsons, the compensation would’ve been significantly higher because more teams would’ve had the time, cap space to offer more to Dallas,” Tannenbaum wrote on X. “It’s virtually unheard of to have a 26 year old pass rusher in the prime of his career available in a trade.”