While we digest the blockbuster trade, here are our initial winners and losers.
Winner: Green Bay Packers | The Packers clearly got the better end of the deal. Any time a team can deal two (likely) late first-round picks and a defensive tackle who turns 30 in October for a player of Parsons’ caliber, it would be negligence not to. Green Bay’s interior depth along the defensive line took a hit, with undrafted free agent Nazir Stackhouse potentially in line for significant playing time following Clark’s departure, but those first’s will be hardly missed as the Packers play deep into January and, possibly, February.
Parsons fills a huge need at edge-rusher. Last season, Green Bay ranked No. 26 in ESPN’s pass-rush win rate rankings, while Parsons finished the year third among edge-rushers in pass-rush win rate. The two-time first-team All-Pro’s 52.5 sacks are also the sixth-most in a player’s first four seasons in NFL history. (h/t Stathead)
Loser: Dallas Cowboys | It’s going to be a long season for the Cowboys. Trading Parsons makes the defense, which ranked No. 31 in points allowed a season ago, substantially worse. Marshawn Kneeland, a 2024 second-rounder, and veteran Dante Fowler are in line to start along the edge following Parsons’ departure, and neither come close to his playing stature.
Fowler, 31, is coming off a 10.5-sack season but only has 55.5 in nine seasons, while Kneeland is still seeking his first career sack after appearing in 11 games last season.
Payton Turner, a 2021 New Orleans Saints first-round pick, signed in free agency but was placed on injured reserve to start the season, meaning he’ll miss at least the first four games. And after producing just five sacks in his first four seasons, it’s unlikely he’ll move the needle much upon his return.
Third-year linebacker DeMarion Overshown was a productive pass-rusher last year but is coming off a second season-ending torn ACL suffered in December and currently on the physically unable to perform list.
One week before opening the season on Thursday against the defending-champion Philadelphia Eagles, the Cowboys may have already sealed their fate.
Winner: Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson | The fourth-year defensive end was always going to make a lot on his second contract, but Parsons’ mammoth extension sets a sizable base line for Hutchinson to request in negotiations.
He had put himself in line to be the front-runner for Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year last season with 7.5 sacks in his first five games before fracturing his tibia and fibula in Week 6 against the Cowboys. Fully healed from that injury, Hutchinson is set to pick up where he left off, making it only a matter of time before the Lions offer him an extension, which just got a lot more expensive.
Loser: Detroit Lions | The Lions aren’t losers for their eventual Hutchinson payday. That’s a good problem to have. Instead, a more legitimate concern is when they play the Packers to open the season in Week 1.
The pivotal NFC North battle got even tougher for the defending division champs. In two career games against the Lions, Parsons has 12 tackles (two for loss), two sacks and three quarterback. While he sat out all of Cowboys training camp with a back injury, we wouldn’t be surprised if his Packers contract also comes with magical healing powers. Parsons has routinely gotten off to hot starts with four career Week 1 sacks, and the Lions should anticipate him being ready to set the tone for 2025 as well.
Winner: Cleveland Browns | It isn’t often that the Browns do something right, so let’s give credit where it’s due. Earlier this offseason, Cleveland was in a similar position as Dallas after star defensive end Myles Garrett requested a trade. Instead of acquiescing to his demand, the Browns rectified the situation and gave him a deal worth $40M annually, which at the time stood as the NFL’s largest non-quarterback contract. Less than six months later, Garrett is the third highest-paid edge-rusher, also behind Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt.
The Browns got ahead of the edge-rusher signing frenzy, and with the dust settled on the league’s off-season spending spree, it’s deal for Garrett has become a bargain.
Loser: Jerry Jones | It’s poetic in a sense. One trade began the Cowboys dynasty, and another put the final nail in them possibly winning another Super Bowl with Jones as team owner.
In 1989, Jones traded running back Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings for a draft-pick haul, a formative moment in the team’s eventual 1990s dynasty. Over three decades later, the Parsons deal could set the Cowboys on a different track. No franchise serious about contending trades its best player. Instead, Jones effectively raised the white flag on Thursday.
It’s never been more clear that Dallas needs a fresh perspective in its front office. As long as Jones remains as general manager, it will be impossible to take the Cowboys seriously.
