Final Review of Parsons / Williams Trade

[rambo2]

For the sake of argument, lets say that the Cowboys and Packers draft picks are locked in at 14 and 24 for the next two drafts. Cowboys essentially traded up from the 2nd round to the 1st round this year and traded down in the 1st round next year.

Trading up from the 2nd round to 24th has a value of 329 points. Trading down from 14 to 24 had a value of 274. The difference in value is 55 points, which does not even equate to a 7th round pick.

So at the end of the day, the Parsons trade equated to Williams and Clark. Would you have traded Parsons for Williams and Clark??

If we keep Clark on the roster after this year then there are no cap savings. If we cut him then it is a straight up trade, Parsons for Williams, with potential for cap savings.

Extension for Clark.

 

[plasticman]

Summary Evaluation of Parsons trade:

Jerry and the Cowboys were historically fleeced.

The Packers got a defensive centerpiece in his prime.

The Cowboys got two aging DTs in rapid decline.

The results are there for all to see. the Packers maintain a top 5 defense. The Cowboys defense took a 90 degree dive.

The difference between a group of capable, experienced NFL executives and a family of rank amateurs.

 

[plymkr]

I would’ve never traded Micah. But if I got offered Quinnen Williams for Micah I would've done it.

Some of us said as much months ago.

TJ Watt, Garrett, Crosby, Micah…..ring less.

Aaron Donald, Fletcher Cox, Chris Jones, Jalen Carter….rings.

100% agree. I would have done the straight up trade for Micah and Quinnen. Quinnen was under contract for 3 years and Micah was not signed yet. So we would have known the cap situation with Quinnen and not know the Micah cap situation. If this trade was done in March I would have been cool with it. I’m cool with it now but would have preferred this to be done in March but what can you do.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Summary Evaluation of Parsons trade:

Jerry and the Cowboys were historically fleeced.

The Packers got a defensive centerpiece in his prime.

The Cowboys got two aging DTs in rapid decline.

The results are there for all to see. the Packers maintain a top 5 defense. The Cowboys defense took a 90 degree dive.

The difference between a group of capable, experienced NFL executives and a family of rank amateurs.

Quinnen will be 28 in December. 6 months later Micah will be 26. But one is an aging DT in rapid decline but the other isn’t despite having to get epidurals because he who’s back pain at 26….

 

[diamonddelts]

the other isn’t despite having to get epidurals

Having multiple babies can be painful. He should try using protection in the future.

 

[kskboys]

Quinnen will be 28 in December. 6 months later Micah will be 26. But one is an aging DT in rapid decline but the other isn’t despite having to get epidurals because he who’s back pain at 26….

Q is not in decline.

 

[kskboys]

Quinnen will be 28 in December. 6 months later Micah will be 26. But one is an aging DT in rapid decline but the other isn’t despite having to get epidurals because he who’s back pain at 26….

Oh, u were being sarcastic!!! Well done!!!!!!

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Oh, u were being sarcastic!!! Well done!!!!!!

It was his wording. He said Quinnen is on the rapid decline. I’ve heard no one say that and the tape doesn’t show it. Now maybe you can say that about Clark but I’m interested in seeing what he looks like.

 

[Cowboys5217]

Summary Evaluation of Parsons trade:

Jerry and the Cowboys were historically fleeced.

The Packers got a defensive centerpiece in his prime.

The Cowboys got two aging DTs in rapid decline.

The results are there for all to see. the Packers maintain a top 5 defense. The Cowboys defense took a 90 degree dive.

The difference between a group of capable, experienced NFL executives and a family of rank amateurs.

Jerry settled for less than what he should have got with Parsons. Substantially less.

Jerry paid more for Williams than what he should have. Substantially more.

This along with the Galloway and Roy Williams historic disasters, and even more recently when Jerry let Cooper go for a 5th, then two years later a real GM trades him for a 4th.

These are some of the "Unique Advantages" to a "GM" who appointed himself for life regardless of had bad he sucks even after 30 years of being unable to build a team that can even win a divisional round playoff game.

The Parsons and Williams trades would result in any other GM getting fired.

 

[Cowboys5217]

100% agree. I would have done the straight up trade for Micah and Quinnen. Quinnen was under contract for 3 years and Micah was not signed yet. So we would have known the cap situation with Quinnen and not know the Micah cap situation. If this trade was done in March I would have been cool with it. I’m cool with it now but would have preferred this to be done in March but what can you do.

The smarter move is to keep Parsons, and trade for Williams (but not for the price we paid).

Fact is Jerry didn't want to trade Parsons. He was dragging out the negotiations for media attention which pissed off Parsons. I think he also couldn't lie to himself any longer about the clown show that is the Dallas Cowboys.

This made Jerry mad so he traded him away for less than what he should have in an "I'll show you who's boss" tantrum.

Then Jerry realizes he has constructed a 3 win roster for 2025, panicked, and gave up more than he should have for a 2 year rental that wasn't making the Jets defense better, but is somehow going to do so for Dallas because reasons.

Watch this blow up spectacularly like the Galloway trade when he blew his knee out in the pickle juice game which meant Jerry threw away those two picks without any benefit that season, or any other since Galloway was never the same. That stupid trade was one of the main reasons for three straight 5-11 seasons.

Two years from now, when we have to let Williams go because he wants to get paid, and after the team has had disastrous 2025 and 2026 seasons, you'll see just how stupid all of this was.

 

[plasticman]

Quinnen will be 28 in December. 6 months later Micah will be 26. But one is an aging DT in rapid decline but the other isn’t despite having to get epidurals because he who’s back pain at 26….

One made the Pro Bowl in four consecutive seasons including his rookie year. He is now into his fifth season.

The other didn't make his first Pro Bowl until his fourth season. He is now into his seventh season.

Parsons has missed a total of four games in his first four seasons. Williams other missed 15 games in his first four seasons so I don't understand you implying that Parsons is the fragile one.

Williams is off to the worse start in his career. He has one sack and 3 QBHits. I fully understand that most comparisons are skewed by the fact that Parsons is a LB/DE and Williams is a DT. However, his productivity this season for the Jets is far below his career average, suggesting that he is becoming less effective.

However, there should be no doubt as to which player impacts a game more. Certainly Parsons makes the teammates around him better, whether by inspiration or the amount of attention he demands from opponents. He is a catalyst, creating more opportunity for his teammates to make big plays like sacks, INT's and fumble recoveries,

It's no coincidence that the Cowboys were very poor in the takeaway department prior to the drafting of Micah. During his time here, the Cowboys ranked 2nd in takeaways. They have now returned to the same ineptitude prior to Parsons arrival.

The Jets have been average to poor in takeaways during the time Williams was there. Although he played well, he did not provide the type of spark that makes a defense dangerous.

DTs tend to wear out quicker than DEs and LBs, on average.

We know that Jerry traded Parsons in the middle of a childish tantrum but why would the Jets trade Williams? Why would they prefer the draft picks considering how difficult it is to find good DTs?

If Williams was not considered part of the Jets future, then why would the Cowboys consider him so?

We know where the team is most likely heading this season, so why the trade now? This trade had more to do with marketing and publicity than it had to do with the Cowboys attempting to solve their defensive issues.

Jerry's decisions are based more around selling tickets than building a competitive defense capable of taking a team deep into the playoffs. This trade has the same description as it's creator's GM talents......superficial.

 

[starfrombirth]

Jerry has already spent every bit of savings and then some.

Quennin and Logan combine for more than Parsons over the next three years

There’s been a spending spree this year but people still talk about $47m

There couldn't have been a spending spree without that $47 million. With Micah here we don't have Williams, Clark, or Logan (not that he's all world). We would have had a much harder time paying T.Smith, Ferguson, and Osa. None of these guys with the exception of Smith or Williams is even close to Parsons, but all of them are far better and fill many holes vs 1. We now have the opportunity to make ourselves better all around which is what I believe is needed to make a serious SB run. 1 or 2 star players doesn't do it. Sorry, but knowing what I know now I would still do the trade 100 times out of 100.

 

[Kwyn]

There couldn't have been a spending spree without that $47 million. With Micah here we don't have Williams, Clark, or Logan (not that he's all world). We would have had a much harder time paying T.Smith, Ferguson, and Osa. None of these guys with the exception of Smith or Williams is even close to Parsons, but all of them are far better and fill many holes vs 1. We now have the opportunity to make ourselves better all around which is what I believe is needed to make a serious SB run. 1 or 2 star players doesn't do it. Sorry, but knowing what I know now I would still do the trade 100 times out of 100.

There is no $47m. The idea we couldn’t have done anything without that money is a myth. It was just Jerry throwing out a red herring and unfortunately, people went for it.

Year	Micah	Quinnen	Clark	Wilson	Bland	Smith	Luepke	Clowney
2025	9,970,000	8,407,000	2,300,000	9,050,000	5,831,000	6,200,000	1,547,000	3,450,000
2026	19,247,000	21,750,000	21,500,000	2,895,000	27,400,000	27,502,000	3,000,000
2027	26,845,000	25,500,000	20,000,000	6,550,000	17,400,000	15,280,000	3,500,000
2028	42,288,000			7,215,000	11,200,000	22,280,000
2029	73,788,000				15,400,000	10,480,000
2030					8,000,000	11,200,000
	Out 2029	Out 2027	Out 2026	Out2026	Out 2027		Out 2027

2025
Micah - $9.9m
“Micah Money” cap spend - $36m (all)

2026
Micah - $19.2m
“Micah Money” cap spend - $103m (Clowney gone)

2027
Micah - $26.8m
“Micah Money” cap spend - $88m (Clowney gone)

2028
Micah - $42.2m
“Micah Money” cap spend - $26m (Williams, Clark, Luepke, Clowney gone)

2029
Micah $73m
“Micah Money” cap spend - $25m (Williams, Clark, Luepke, Wilson, Clowney gone)

2030
Micah - Gone
Still paying - $19m (Smith and Bland)

All in, even having GB pay the $72m in 2029 (which will never happen),

Micah cost - $172m
“Micah Money” - $313m

And they aren’t done spending yet.

 

[kskboys]

It was his wording. He said Quinnen is on the rapid decline. I’ve heard no one say that and the tape doesn’t show it. Now maybe you can say that about Clark but I’m interested in seeing what he looks like.

Well said. Clark has had a small decline, not a sharp one. Q is not declining at all.

 

[kskboys]

One made the Pro Bowl in four consecutive seasons including his rookie year. He is now into his fifth season.

The other didn't make his first Pro Bowl until his fourth season. He is now into his seventh season.

Parsons has missed a total of four games in his first four seasons. Williams other missed 15 games in his first four seasons so I don't understand you implying that Parsons is the fragile one.

Williams is off to the worse start in his career. He has one sack and 3 QBHits. I fully understand that most comparisons are skewed by the fact that Parsons is a LB/DE and Williams is a DT. However, his productivity this season for the Jets is far below his career average, suggesting that he is becoming less effective.

However, there should be no doubt as to which player impacts a game more. Certainly Parsons makes the teammates around him better, whether by inspiration or the amount of attention he demands from opponents. He is a catalyst, creating more opportunity for his teammates to make big plays like sacks, INT's and fumble recoveries,

It's no coincidence that the Cowboys were very poor in the takeaway department prior to the drafting of Micah. During his time here, the Cowboys ranked 2nd in takeaways. They have now returned to the same ineptitude prior to Parsons arrival.

The Jets have been average to poor in takeaways during the time Williams was there. Although he played well, he did not provide the type of spark that makes a defense dangerous.

DTs tend to wear out quicker than DEs and LBs, on average.

We know that Jerry traded Parsons in the middle of a childish tantrum but why would the Jets trade Williams? Why would they prefer the draft picks considering how difficult it is to find good DTs?

If Williams was not considered part of the Jets future, then why would the Cowboys consider him so?

We know where the team is most likely heading this season, so why the trade now? This trade had more to do with marketing and publicity than it had to do with the Cowboys attempting to solve their defensive issues.

Jerry's decisions are based more around selling tickets than building a competitive defense capable of taking a team deep into the playoffs. This trade has the same description as it's creator's GM talents......superficial.

Because the Jets are rebuilding. In a rebuild, you trade away valuable assets for high draft picks. That is why the Jets traded Q. It's really simple if you think about it.

The Jets are a good 2-4 years away. Q will be 30 in 3 years, so why would they keep him?

You are wrong about Q. He definitely and beyond any doubt provided the spark that makes a D dangerous. Unfortunately, it takes more than one player to form a dangerous D. He had nothing left around him.

You're making the mistake of only evaluating one season. In 2023, the Jets had the #3 D in the NFL, and Q was the primary reason. After 2023, they let a pile of D players walk.

In 2023, the Jets were 8th in INTs and 7th in sacks.

Plastic, I always like your stuff, do you have someone else posting on your account here?

 

[Ekspozed]

For the sake of argument, lets say that the Cowboys and Packers draft picks are locked in at 14 and 24 for the next two drafts. Cowboys essentially traded up from the 2nd round to the 1st round this year and traded down in the 1st round next year.

Trading up from the 2nd round to 24th has a value of 329 points. Trading down from 14 to 24 had a value of 274. The difference in value is 55 points, which does not even equate to a 7th round pick.

So at the end of the day, the Parsons trade equated to Williams and Clark. Would you have traded Parsons for Williams and Clark??

If we keep Clark on the roster after this year then there are no cap savings. If we cut him then it is a straight up trade, Parsons for Williams, with potential for cap savings.

Lol

 

[jterrell]

We can spitball all we want...but Jerry Jones was absolutely going to give Parsons something in the range of 40 mil/year. He never really wanted to trade Micah until the bottom fell out. At the end of the day these rationalizations matter less than the fact that Jones was going to dole out the money...had the "handshake" deal worked out.

We "might" look back on this and see that it was Micah who expedited a short rebuild of the defense. Not nearly on the level of the Herschel Walker trade but this defense could be substantially improved next year...especially if Clark is retained. Get Diggs "right". Get your two first rounders "right"...shake and bake in free agency and you might be able to return to the heady days of that 2022 defense. But if you want to make a final run under Prescott then you need more urgency than you had in '21 and '22. You will need to make better moves and avoid significant mistakes like the Cooper trade.

I do not care what Jerry was going to do.
I care about the result.

The trade was good, period.

It means zero to me that Jerry got lucky.

I do care that the Dallas Cowboys got a direction now and make football sense for the short and long term and it being in spite of Jerry just makes it that much sweeter.

If I hate Jerry so much that I can not enjoy anything to do with the team, I'll just stop following the team altogether. In the meantime, I'll just hope we win in spite of his broken football brain.

 

[jterrell]

There is no $47m. The idea we couldn’t have done anything without that money is a myth. It was just Jerry throwing out a red herring and unfortunately, people went for it.

Year	Micah	Quinnen	Clark	Wilson	Bland	Smith	Luepke	Clowney
2025	9,970,000	8,407,000	2,300,000	9,050,000	5,831,000	6,200,000	1,547,000	3,450,000
2026	19,247,000	21,750,000	21,500,000	2,895,000	27,400,000	27,502,000	3,000,000
2027	26,845,000	25,500,000	20,000,000	6,550,000	17,400,000	15,280,000	3,500,000
2028	42,288,000			7,215,000	11,200,000	22,280,000
2029	73,788,000				15,400,000	10,480,000
2030					8,000,000	11,200,000
	Out 2029	Out 2027	Out 2026	Out2026	Out 2027		Out 2027

2025
Micah - $9.9m
“Micah Money” cap spend - $36m (all)

2026
Micah - $19.2m
“Micah Money” cap spend - $103m (Clowney gone)

2027
Micah - $26.8m
“Micah Money” cap spend - $88m (Clowney gone)

2028
Micah - $42.2m
“Micah Money” cap spend - $26m (Williams, Clark, Luepke, Clowney gone)

2029
Micah $73m
“Micah Money” cap spend - $25m (Williams, Clark, Luepke, Wilson, Clowney gone)

2030
Micah - Gone
Still paying - $19m (Smith and Bland)

All in, even having GB pay the $72m in 2029 (which will never happen),

Micah cost - $172m
“Micah Money” - $313m

And they aren’t done spending yet.

This is the largest stretch possible of a take on this.
It is a salary cap and they will spend. Would spend whether Micah was here or not.
Was Jerry just blustering? Sure.

Parsons 47AAV is just talk BUT his 132M GTD money is not fluff AT ALL.
And DAL will in fact get multiple defensive starters under the cap for his ACTUAL cap hits.
Half the money on your spreadsheet for Dallas is the same fluff.
Luepke seeing 3.5M in 2027 is as likely as me winning the lottery.

Dallas was going to be paying Osa 20M and Parsons 40+ in REAL money.
That to be very bad versus the run.

Instead, they can shift that ACTUAL 40M for Parsons into Logan Wilson, QWilliams, Clowney and Kenny Clark.

 

[75boyz]

Yep. He's not even a top 10 edge rusher in the league this year.

To all you guys crying about how we gave up a HOFer EDGE for QW...

To be fair, you'd need to compare him the real HOFer out this generations edge rushers, Myles Garrett:

Garrett
Sacks - 11
Forced Fumbles - 1
TFLs - 17

Parsons
Sacks - 6.5
Forced Fumbles - 0
TFLs - 7

Parsons can't even carry Garrett's jock strap. But seriously, we're not even talking run-stop here. I'm just talk situational pass rusher stats, and that's all Parsons is elite at, right? Anyone with a differing opinion based in reality? Parsons wansn't even the best edge in the NFC East when he was here (not counting run stopping, because then the gap is even bigger).

That'd be big Brian Burns:
Brian Burns
Sacks - 11
Forced Fumbles - 2
TFLs - 15

But Parsons isn't even as good as his own team mate Rashan Gary.
Rashan Gary
Sacks - 11
Forced Fumbles - 2
TFLs - 15

I mean, maybe he's Aden Hutchinson level, but Aden's coming off season eding surgery, bruh.
Aden Hutchinson
Sacks - 7
Forced Fumbles - 4
TFLs - 7

Parson's ain't going to the HOF. He's a flash in the pan rusher, that's already been exposed. He's only 1/2 a player, and you don't belong in the HOF if you don't play run defense. Dude hasn't even forced a fumble this year, has he?

Very strong post.
Good job.
Expect those pressure DE fanatics to try a rebuttal or 3.

 

[stilltheguru]

Very strong post.
Good job.
Expect those pressure DE fanatics to try a rebuttal or 3.

On IG I'm seeing more pressure propaganda being spread. Wouldn't suprise me if that Stat influences awards in the future. That's the world today. Actual results don't matter