Micah Parsons trade: Cam Newton claims Dallas Cowboys won transaction over Green Bay Packers

by: Alex Byington 1 hour ago _AlexByington

Twenty-four hours later, the entire sports world is still coming to terms with Thursday afternoon’s seismic preseason trade that sent two-time All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons from the Dallas Cowboys to the Green Bay Packers .

That includes the crew on ESPN’s mid-morning show First Take , where newly re-signed contributor and former NFL MVP Cam Newton went against the grain and boldly declared Dallas owner Jerry Jones and the Cowboys as the winner of the trade.

The Packers traded their next two first-round picks in the 2026 and 2027 NFL Drafts in addition to three-time Pro Bowl DT Kenny Clark to the Cowboys to acquire Parsons, who is expected to sign an eye-popping four-year, $188 million deal that will make him the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback with an average salary of $47 million annually.

“Yes, (Dallas) won the trade. Remove emotions, what I’m saying is this: in order to be good in this league of the NFL, you need one thing, and that’s talent. That’s not to say that Micah Parsons isn’t talented. But what I am saying is, if you do not have talent, what next do you need is acquisition ability to get talent. And that’s what Jerry Jones did,” Newton said Friday morning on First Take. “He has potentially four picks in the first round alone (over the next two drafts) as of today. We don’t know what Kenny Clark is going to be. (But Jerry Jones) has made it abundantly clear, and said this: We want to stop the run. And, as great a player as Micah Parsons is, he’s an edge rusher. If you know any type of defense in this league, the first thing they want to stop is the run (to) make the offense one-dimensional. All these things are formulas the Dallas Cowboys have said and implemented to insert moving forward.”

What the Dallas Cowboys got in return from Green Bay Packers

Effectively, while Parsons will undoubtedly transform Green Bay’s defense having recorded at least 12 sacks each of his first four seasons in the league, Newton believes Jones and the Cowboys will win the deal in the longterm with their ability to add multiple players that are more suited to Dallas’ desire to become a more line-of-scrimmage team.

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