Are fans ready to accept the Micah trade devasted our defense?

[DZSierra]

Micah lied. Jerry offered him a highly paid deal but slightly less than $47 mil/year. Micah refused! Micah created this trade. Not Jerry. Micah was the super greedy one who didn't give a flip about this team or players. He simply wanted to get paid a record deal.

When Parsons publicly stated he didn't have to be the highest player and he would take 40 million a year, Jerry should have called Parsons agent and basically put Parson's on the spot for his word and say OK, here's your deal I'm giving you exactly what you want (heck, he could have even made it 42 million a year and publicly give Parsons more than he asked for and he still would have gotten him for less).

I don't think it was greed that chased Parsons away from Jones, but pride.

At the end of the day, Parsons got what he wanted but Jerry didn't.

 

[CowboyoWales]

WTH were we thinking. We had to know it could be a disaster .

Trading Micah is nowhere near the "disaster" of not building on the 2023 roster (or indeed, breaking up the whole roster).....regardless of the Green Bay debacle.

That was the defensive zenith, Defense of: Micah, Armstrong, Fowler, Sam, DLaw, Bland, Diggs (ok injured), Gilmore, Hooker (best year), Hankins (our Run- D saviour), J-Lew, Kearse and Wilson.....(and a defensive identity).

The Defense fell off a cliff between 2023 and 2024.

 

[Gangsta Spanksta]

Well if you can even call it a "trade". It's more like a failed contract negotiation. The plan was for Parsons to be here, but because of Jones things got so toxic that a "trade" had to be made at the last moment. It's hard for me to even blame the Defensive Coordinator for this defense, because it was like he got surprised by this last minute trade. Its also a hallmark of how our GM builds the team, where while the roster does have talent, there is no depth. You unexpectedly lose Parsons at the beginning of the season, you don't have anyone you can plug in and keep the passrush at least half decent. No passrush effects impacts our secondary as well. The DC maybe the wrong guy, but well, who knows without Jones botched negotiations, last minute trades, etc.

 

[DZSierra]

Well if you can even call it a "trade". It's more like a failed contract negotiation. The plan was for Parsons to be here, but because of Jones things got so toxic that a "trade" had to be made at the last moment. It's hard for me to even blame the Defensive Coordinator for this defense, because it was like he got surprised by this last minute trade. Its also a hallmark of how our GM builds the team, where while the roster does have talent, there is no depth. You unexpectedly lose Parsons at the beginning of the season, you don't have anyone you can plug in and keep the passrush at least half decent. No passrush effects impacts our secondary as well. The DC maybe the wrong guy, but well, who knows without Jones botched negotiations, last minute trades, etc.

 

[John813]

When Parsons publicly stated he didn't have to be the highest player and he would take 40 million a year, Jerry should have called Parsons agent and basically put Parson's on the spot for his word and say OK, here's your deal I'm giving you exactly what you want (heck, he could have even made it 42 million a year and publicly give Parsons more than he asked for and he still would have gotten him for less).

I don't think it was greed that chased Parsons away from Jones, but pride.

At the end of the day, Parsons got what he wanted but Jerry didn't.

You know, it's water under the bridge, but I have to wonder if it was a mix of seeing guys like Crosby, Garrett, Watt sign, and still waiting in his 5th year to get that extension that probably caused him to ask for that bump in pay request.
If Dallas was serious about locking him up, to me, he felt like a no brainer going into his 4th year here, and his contract would of been "cheap" in 2025 after those 3 kept resetting it.

Also feel like talk is cheap when it's on the fly. Then you got the agent, family and friends probably telling you to get the max so they can help you spend that money.
There's no plan in Dallas, and as much I would like to see Dallas land some "Steal" of some deals, I don't think they would ever take advantage of those cap savings.

Like talk of being players in FA just feels like it'll only happen in Madden. To this day, we got Stephen Jones for the 5th year in a row(exaggeration) saying there's no issue with personnel they got for the team. They move on deals like a sloth climbing a tree. Even if they were serious about FA, I think they would just lose out on players with how they still think they hold all the cards in negotiations.

 

[CowboyoWales]

On your second point I'm willing to reevaluate if they spend the $30M in cap that's rolling over, when instead I see more bargain bin shopping and saying "we signed Pickens you have to think of the pie..."

Well a qualified, yes, as we are already 'overspent' in 2026 CAP. But you are right, there is no way Jerry would of re-signed BOTH Micah and Pickens and there's an argument to have that the latter has more of an influence on the game (and actually not only transforms the receiving room, but Dak's willingness to expand his downfield game).

Not saying this was the action of a genius GM, but trading Micah has:
- free'd up money to re-sign Pickens (and enough to potentially re-sign Javonte)
- given draft resources to use, especially in 2026 that looks to align with our needs - good in D-Line, not so good WR.
- seriously look at Defensive upgrades in FA, (when saving on cutting of Diggs $12.5, $21m off Clark and Steele and possibly Wilson).

If we are of the opinion that we can win in 2025, then Micah trade is a disaster for those of us thinking a reset is needed (and prove-it year on the Offense, which can be parked as ticked off) and then go All-In for 2026/27, then Jerry may have stumbled onto something (not that im convinced he'll see it through).

 

[Hadenough]

I understand if we were actually in an official rebuild mode and Micah wasn’t in our plans as we planned on trading him to highest bidder during Free Agency that could have actually been a strategic plan. But that’s not what happened. We had every intention on resigning. We just couldn’t get a deal done . But I’m not here to argue out as that’s been exhausted over last couple months.

This thread is about what the impacts of losing Micah has meant to this defense . The fact we lost him a week before the season had to be devasting to a DC and schemes with other losses on defense in FA and injuries.

Where was our pass rush going to come from. We also lost Lawrence as a Cap Casualty. Our top two edge rushers gone .

And with our 2 CB’s not a 100% recovering from injuries we were leaving our secondary very vulnerable without a pass rush.

WTH were we thinking. We had to know it could be a disaster .

I think the Micah trade was needed to show the real deficiency of this defense. His salary was just too much to pay. The defense needs a complete overhaul.

 

[NDGAEDE]

Absolutely it did. The defense was constructed with Micah as the centerpiece. We traded him away and have a major gap at one of the most important positions in the team and in the game.

That said, I agree with everyone else that it wouldn't matter anyways. Diggs is shot, the LBs are clueless, the DTs can't stop the run, and the S don't know what 'cover' means

 

[DuncanIso]

Terrible trade.

 

[DuncanIso]

I think the Micah trade was needed to show the real deficiency of this defense. His salary was just too much to pay. The defense needs a complete overhaul.

Look at how GB structured the contract.

Very affordable.

 

[DuncanIso]

I have a feeling Eberflus was consulted about trading Parsons, not that it was his decision nor am I saying his decision carried a lot of weight, but Eberflus must have felt somewhat good about the defense having watched them practice all summer without Parsons. Losing Parsons didn't destroy the defense. Parsons might have covered up some of the stink but the defense needed a rebuild before the trade and still does after it.

It did destroy.

Zero pass rush.

 

[DZSierra]

You know, it's water under the bridge, but I have to wonder if it was a mix of seeing guys like Crosby, Garrett, Watt sign, and still waiting in his 5th year to get that extension that probably caused him to ask for that bump in pay request.
If Dallas was serious about locking him up, to me, he felt like a no brainer going into his 4th year here, and his contract would of been "cheap" in 2025 after those 3 kept resetting it.

I believe pretty much all the fans felt the same way, because it was just using common sense. Thing is, most of us are non NFL "professionals" but plain old fans who enjoy watching the game and players.

Jerry is a billionaire who has owned the team for over 35 years and is also the general manager. Under Jone's leadership he has already won 3 super bowls. The issue is the cowboys fans who use common sense aren't billionaires and don't own the cowboys. I think anyone who uses common sense feels that it wasn't Jones who won those 3 super bowls, but Jimmy Johnson and the remnants and "culture" of his players who won their last super bowl under Barry as coach.

Jerry has a lot of pride (although I think it's misplaced in his job as GM) and Parsons has a lot of pride in what made him the football player he is. Jerry likes to do things his way, and part of his way is to make news IMO. The only thing Parsons was doing was making news with no renegotiated contract and Jerry was milking it for all it was worth.

I think most, if not all fans agree that with Jones being the GM, he's not going to get into a pissing match with his head coach, and thus will hire people who he knows will ultimately agree with him to make him (Jones) look smart.

 

[Johannes44]

Jones things got so toxic that a "trade"

I effectively stopped listening to the blame game after I heard that Jerry ran an end around the players agent and decided he wanted to do a handshake deal. Who the hell operates a multi-billion dollar franchise this way? Dude is out of his mind.

 

[atlantacowboy]

I understand if we were actually in an official rebuild mode and Micah wasn’t in our plans as we planned on trading him to highest bidder during Free Agency that could have actually been a strategic plan. But that’s not what happened. We had every intention on resigning. We just couldn’t get a deal done . But I’m not here to argue out as that’s been exhausted over last couple months.

This thread is about what the impacts of losing Micah has meant to this defense . The fact we lost him a week before the season had to be devasting to a DC and schemes with other losses on defense in FA and injuries.

Where was our pass rush going to come from. We also lost Lawrence as a Cap Casualty. Our top two edge rushers gone .

And with our 2 CB’s not a 100% recovering from injuries we were leaving our secondary very vulnerable without a pass rush.

WTH were we thinking. We had to know it could be a disaster .

I think signing him to a 46M contract would have been a worse decision. Fact is that this defense wasn't any good last year even with Micah. So far with GB, he got 2.5 sack and 11 tackles through 5 games. They can have him.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

Not saying this was the action of a genius GM, but trading Micah has:
- free'd up money to re-sign Pickens (and enough to potentially re-sign Javonte)
- given draft resources to use, especially in 2026 that looks to align with our needs - good in D-Line, not so good WR.
- seriously look at Defensive upgrades in FA, (when saving on cutting of Diggs $12.5, $21m off Clark and Steele and possibly Wilson).

This!
The trade has put us in a very unique position.......we can now afford Pickens at market value and still have cap for a couple of free agents. We just signed Bland, Tyler, and Ferg, and no other huge contracts are coming down the pipe before 2028.

We have a min 6 high picks ( four 1st and two 2nds ) for the defense over the next couple of years. Keep in mind, we could probably gain ANOTHER two or three picks by simply trading down. So it could reasonably be 8 high picks.....

So yes, we can easily sign Pickens and not miss a beat........thanks to Micah trade

 

[DZSierra]

Fact is that this defense wasn't any good last year even with Micah. So far with GB, he got 2.5 sack and 11 tackles through 5 games. They can have him.

Turns out a coworker is a big cheese head and was in Green Bay for the game this past Sunday.

I asked him about that game because Parsons look to have 0 tackles and wasn't even mentioned in the defensive stats.

His exact words were "he cause a lot of havoc and the other linebackers cashed in on it" along with "made Flacco think about him though".

The intangible that stats can seem to track is how a great football player makes his side of the ball better, particularly on defense, because if that guy is getting the attention, anyone who has some skill and is good can cash in on it.

 

[DZSierra]

This!
The trade has put us in a very unique position.......we can now afford Pickens at market value and still have cap for a couple of free agents. We just signed Bland, Tyler, and Ferg, and no other huge contracts are coming down the pipe before 2028.

We have a min 6 high picks ( four 1st and two 2nds ) for the defense over the next couple of years. Keep in mind, we could probably gain ANOTHER two or three picks by simply trading down. So it could reasonably be 8 high picks.....

So yes, we can easily sign Pickens and not miss a beat........thanks to Micah trade

The issue is you're using common sense.

If Jerry had really wanted to trade Parsons, he could have gotten a much better deal if he would have been proactive instead of reactive.

 

[atlantacowboy]

Turns out a coworker is a big cheese head and was in Green Bay for the game this past Sunday.

I asked him about that game because Parsons look to have 0 tackles and wasn't even mentioned in the defensive stats.

His exact words were "he cause a lot of havoc and the other linebackers cashed in on it" along with "made Flacco think about him though".

The intangible that stats can seem to track is how a great football player makes his side of the ball better, particularly on defense, because if that guy is getting the attention, anyone who has some skill and is good can cash in on it.

Well, we put 40 on them.

But maybe he makes more sense on a team like GB that maybe needed that one piece on defense to make a legit Super Bowl run. Dallas is far from it and after giving Dak 60M and CD 35M, there was no path forward to build around a Micah lead defense at the salary he wanted. It was a good move for both teams.

 

[nightrain]

I understand if we were actually in an official rebuild mode and Micah wasn’t in our plans as we planned on trading him to highest bidder during Free Agency that could have actually been a strategic plan. But that’s not what happened. We had every intention on resigning. We just couldn’t get a deal done . But I’m not here to argue out as that’s been exhausted over last couple months.

This thread is about what the impacts of losing Micah has meant to this defense . The fact we lost him a week before the season had to be devasting to a DC and schemes with other losses on defense in FA and injuries.

Where was our pass rush going to come from. We also lost Lawrence as a Cap Casualty. Our top two edge rushers gone .

And with our 2 CB’s not a 100% recovering from injuries we were leaving our secondary very vulnerable without a pass rush.

WTH were we thinking. We had to know it could be a disaster .

My feeling exactly. The Cowboys have long been a failure managing the cap with a terrible propensity to pay guys who don't deserve it. When the music stopped on the contract carrousel, there was no seat for Micah. However, with the roster being what it is and the cap stretched to its limit, Micah was best traded for a bounty of assets to help rebuild the roster. Jerry dropped the ball and made the move almost 6 months too late.

Micah is a generational talent. He is the guy you pay. The defense was built around Micah and he was the catalyst for much of their success. To go into the first game with an "oh by the way, we traded Micah", was the height of incompetence. The football world pointing the finger of failure toward Eberflus for a defensive roster that blows at all three levels is just lazy analysis.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

Well, we put 40 on them.

But maybe he makes more sense on a team like GB that maybe needed that one piece on defense to make a legit Super Bowl run. Dallas is far from it and after giving Dak 60M and CD 35M, there was no path forward to build around a Micah lead defense at the salary he wanted. It was a good move for both teams.

This!
I agree.....good move for both teams